Fifth Key
by eccentricfire
Summary: Ash and co. meet Amy Greenfield, and decide to assist her in finding five keys to a one-of-a-kind treasure. However, many mysteries surround her, and Team Rocket is hot on their trail. From Amy's POV. The riddle has been revealed!
1. My Name is Amy

(A/N) Alright! First chapter is up! Time to get started!

Just so you know, this story takes place only with the original 151 Pokémon, and the original locations in the Kanto region. It starts during the Pokémon League and continues after that, but follows a different course than the anime.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

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**Prologue**

My name is Anna.

Decades ago, I began my journey from Vermillion City to become a Pokémon Master. I never lost a single battle, well, except one. To Damian Greenfield. But that's a different story. A few years into my training, I obtained... let's just say it was a very valuable item. It was one of a kind. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. With this item, I was confident that I would be able to find and capture the elusive Mew. I spent years searching. I eventually found it, tried, and failed. It was then that I decided, maybe it was better to stop traveling for a while.

I settled down on Seafoam Island with Damian. We had a daughter. She loved the Pokémon. Everything was perfect. I soon forgot the valuable item I kept locked up in a safe.

Evildoers don't forget, though.

It happened six years after our daughter was born. Damian... he just suddenly disappeared. Behind was a note from the evil organization Team Rocket. They remembered. And they wanted the item. Three years passed. They kept making attempts to steal the item. A few times, they hurt my daughter. Finally, I decided that I had to leave the nine-year-old to protect her. I took the item, and all of the Pokémon. It... was the best way to keep her safe. I hid the item, and ran. I traveled the Kanto region once again. I knew that she would have started her own Pokémon journey by that point. I... wanted to wait before I told her though. She would know soon enough...

**Chapter One: My Name is Amy**

Fear is a funny thing. Sounds weird, I know, but it's true. Fear is hilarious. It strikes when you least expect it, and always at the worst time. But, I've noticed out of experience that fear usually leads to much greater events. I have never experienced more fear than I had in those past two years. But it always caused something that worked out for the better.

Maybe I should back up a little.

My name is Amy.

About a year ago, I started my journey. I trained with my Pokémon extremely hard, and had caught nearly all of the 150 known species. I traveled around, earning badges to compete in the Pokémon League. I had acquired all eight I needed to qualify. So now I sat in a small diner on the Indigo Plateau. I had registered the day before, when the competition officially started (there were no battles until today, though). I had chosen the Pokémon I would use on my first battle on the Grass Field later that day and gotten them healed up. The match wasn't until later, so I was getting something to eat. It was one of those tiny, dinky diners that have a few tables, a bar, and one person running the whole place. I was one of the only people there, because most people were out watching the Pokémon battles. It was quiet enough from the lack of people that I could clearly hear the words coming from the TV hanging in the corner of the diner. It was broadcasting a first round battle on the Water Field.

"We're here, live, on the Water Field, where first-time league entrant Ash Ketchum battles Mandy the Astounding!" The announcer cried. Big whoop. He continued the play-by-play of the match. "And now Krabby has evolved into Kingler!"

"Big whoop," I muttered. My Pikachu, Alice, hopped up onto the table. I smiled. I had raised her ever since she was an egg. She hatched about a month before I left Seafoam. I was the only person from Seafoam Island that had a trainer's license. I continued talking. "I mean, I could have won this entire battle already with my hands tied behind my back." She shot me a confused look. I laughed after I realized what I said. "You know what I mean." It was true, though. I had never lost a battle in my life.

The battle on the television continued. I glanced up every now and then to see the newly evolved Kingler firing attacks at other Pokémon. First it was a Seadra, then a Golbat. I had finished my sandwich and was finishing my glass of orange juice when the roar of the crowd indicated the end of the match. I heard a newscaster speaking.

"We're here now with Ash Ketchum, the victor from the Water Field." She said. _Oh,_ I thought. _The rookie won._ I covered my ears. Dang, this kid was annoying! He just wouldn't shut up! I took another sip of juice and glared up at the TV screen...

...And spewed the juice back into the glass in shock. My mouth hung open; my eyes were wide. I finally managed to close my eyes and mouth. I shook my head back and forth before re-opening my eyes. I had to be hallucinating. I had to be! No, I wasn't. I stared at the image of the excited boy. Alice glanced nervously at me.

"Pikachu, pi pikapi?" she asked. I didn't remove my eyes from the screen.

"I don't know, Alice. I don't know." I was lucky that I grew up around Pokémon. Both of my parents were Pokémon trainers (actually, one was a Pokémon breeder, but I'm not going to get into that right now), so I had a lot of exposure to Pokémon. As a result, I could understand most of what they were saying. She had asked if it was the same person. It looked like the same person. He had the same messy black hair and was wearing the same Indigo League Expo hat. Maybe he had a twin? I couldn't know for sure unless... I glanced at my watch. I had plenty of time before my match. The Fields weren't that far from the diner. I could probably run down there and catch him before he left. I paid for my food and picked up my backpack.

Thoughts raced through my head as my feet raced towards the stadium. It was impossible! He had to just be that boy's relative or something. There was no way it could be the same person. When I arrived at the Water Field gates, people were pushing and shoving to get out. I had probably just missed him. I scanned the crowd, searching for that easily recognizable hat. Nowhere to be seen.

"Pika!" Alice cried. I looked up onto my shoulder. Since I raised her from birth and she had never been in a Pokéball before I turned ten, I didn't force her into one. She likes it outside. She was still registered as my first Pokémon though, so it's perfectly legal for me to use her in battle. My gaze followed the direction she was pointing in and saw our target. He was talking excitedly with two others: a girl and a boy. The girl had orange hair tied up in a side ponytail. She carried what looked like an egg with arms with her. The boy was taller than the other two, and had spiky brown hair. I strode over to the trio, pushing my way through the crowded street.

I stood in front of them, arms spread, stare hardened, blocking any way for them to get around. The boy, Ash, stopped talking. He blinked at me. He opened his mouth to speak but before he had the chance I quickly asked a question that could clear things up.

"Did you have a sibling?" He blinked again.

"No, I'm an only child. Why?"

"I don't think you heard me correctly. I said '**did** you have a sibling?'" He just stared. The girl leaned forward.

"She's asking if you had a sibling that died," she explained.

"I knew that, Misty!" He snapped. He turned back to me. "Again, no. I'm an only child and always have been." My eyes widened for a moment before I spoke up again.

"You're lying." He glared at me.

"I think I would know if I had a sibling or not."

"Then how are you standing here in front of me?" The confusion was written all over his face. I stared back at him. "I want an answer," I said coldly. His expression began to shift to fear, probably from the tone of my voice. I was afraid, too, but for a completely different reason. I had seen this boy before.

The last time I had seen him he was dead.

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Did you like it? This is my first fanfic, so it's probably not that good, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't flame it. Review please!


	2. Care to Explain This One?

(A/N) Hello all you fans that probably don't exist! Here's chapter 2.

Just so you know, this story takes place only with the original 151 Pokémon, and the original locations in the Kanto region. It starts during the Pokémon League and continues after that, but follows a different course than the anime.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

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**Chapter 2: Care to Explain This One?**

"How are you standing in front of me? How are you alive?" I felt myself beginning to panic. And rightly so, too. When I saw him before, he was lying dead underneath a chandelier in the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town. I know he was dead, not just unconscious. "How are you right here, when back then..." I trailed off.

"Excuse me, miss," the other boy began. "Are you mistaking us for someone else?" I was shaking now. People don't just come back from the dead! And if he was an only child, then he couldn't be that boy's relative. I looked up at the other boy.

"I hope so," I replied. My eyes narrowed. This one looked familiar, though... "Brock," I said finally. "You're Brock, the gym leader from Pewter City." He nodded. I remembered battling him!

"I remember you," he said. "You beat my Onix with one hit." Ash's mouth dropped open.

"She did **what**?" he cried. I suddenly remembered that Ash had some explaining to do. I turned back to him.

"How are you alive?" I asked again. The trio gave me confused looks again. Were they really so oblivious that they didn't realize that one member of the group was supposed to be dead? Maybe I **was** mistaking him for someone else. I sighed. "Come with me. I should probably explain why I'm asking, and maybe then I'll get an answer." I said the second sentence to myself. Ash shot me a distrustful look.

"How can we tell you aren't working for Team Rocket and are trying to steal our Pokémon?" He asked. A rather awkward moment followed in which I stood idly by as the three discussed what they thought they should do.

"I think we can trust her," Brock finally stated. I smiled, turned around, and began walking. There were too many people here, and if Ash really was the same person I saw then, most people probably wouldn't take too kindly to an undead. Maybe he was a Pokémon? But which one would he be? I sighed again. I was bringing them to the diner. Maybe there some things would get cleared up. I began a hushed conversation with Alice.

"So, do you think it's the same guy?"

"Pikapi pika pikachu," she replied. She said it was the same Pikachu at least.

"There was a Pikachu with him? And it was the same one we found in the tower next to him?"

"Pika pika pi. Chu pikachu pi." She said it was kind of hard to miss. It was sitting on his head. As if in response, Ash's Pikachu (at least I was assuming it was his) jumped down from his head and walked beside me.

"Pikachu?" it asked. He wanted to know if we had met before. I didn't shift my gaze from in front of me.

"I dunno. **Have** we met before? Hopefully we'll figure everything out when we get where we're going."

"Pikachu pikacha?" He asked where we were going. I glanced down at him now.

"Just a diner," I said. I turned to the trio behind me as the Pikachu ran back to Ash. "Have you guys eaten yet?" They all shook their heads. "Dinner on me, then. It's the least I can do for confusing you guys so much. Trust me, I'm confused, too. Oh! I'm taking you to a diner. There usually aren't too many people there, so we can talk without people giving us weird looks." I stopped in front of the doors to the diner. "Here we are." I heard the three whispering behind me.

"You know, I'm beginning to think this girl is okay." That was Ash.

"You're just happy that dinner's on her. I still think something weird is going on," the girl – what was her name again? Oh, right. It was Misty – Misty muttered. I decided to break in.

"If I were any one of you, I would think something weird was going on. A seemingly complete stranger walks up to you and says that one of you shouldn't be alive, which, oh, by the way, usually means that this person has tried to kill you at some point and obviously failed, oh! But don't get the wrong idea. If I ever tried to kill someone and failed, I wouldn't be stupid enough to give myself away like that. Moving on, this stranger has taken you to a deserted diner, and has the odd ability, which none of you seem to notice, to understand what Pokémon are saying, and all of you are so dense that you don't even realize that this stranger knows who you are, whilst you don't even know their name. Shall we go in?" I delivered my monologue quickly and with various hand gestures and voice inflections before walking through the doors and waiting patiently for the other three. Or, at least I tried to. I actually ended up crashing into one of the large windows and ruining the whole mood. I finally managed to latch on to the doorknob and let myself in. The other three gave me quizzical looks and followed.

I sat down at the same table I was at before and motioned for the others to do the same. After they took their seats, I spoke.

"You are probably all wondering why I brought you here." They responded with a series of nods and grunts. I continued, "Six to eight months ago, were the three of you in Lavender Town, more specifically the Pokémon Tower?" Once again, nods and grunts. But I noticed that this time, they flinched, as if they were recalling a bad memory. "Well, so was I. I had won five of my badges and–"

"Are you competing here, too?" Ash interrupted. I glared at him.

"No, I only went around and won eight badges and then took the time to travel here so that I could sit around for no particular reason. Of course I'm competing! Now, don't interrupt." I cleared my throat and started again. "I had won five of my badges and decided that I would take the long way around to get to Fuchsia City. Instead of going straight from Celadon to Fuchsia City, I decided to pass back through Saffron, because I wanted to go to Lavender Town. After catching a ghost Pokémon, I would head onward to Fuchsia.

"I arrived at the tower. I entered, swearing not to leave until I captured a ghost Pokémon. Almost an entire day passed before I finally got a Gastly into a Pokéball." Ash gave me a stunned look. He opened his mouth to say something, but promptly shut it after I shot him a death glare. "I was more wary leaving however than when I was coming in. Earlier that night, I began to hear screams. I could tell by the voices that it was always the same people. I knew that there were other people in the tower because of that, and I would have preferred it if I didn't run into them. Who knows what I would have been pestered about! The final scream I heard was suddenly cut off." I saw a shudder run down Ash's spine. I took note of this reaction, and also of the various nervous glances the trio shared. They knew what I was getting at. I know they did.

"I waited in silence for a minute or two, before finally resuming my attempts to find a way out. After spending a day in that place, well! I hate to admit it, but I was lost." I laughed quietly and continued, "I eventually made it down a flight of stairs into another room. On the edge of the room, a chandelier was lying on the floor. Trapped under it were a boy and a Pikachu. Now, it's not every day you find an unconscious kid under a chandelier in a haunted tower, so I ran over to see if he was alright. He wasn't moving or breathing, and there was no pulse. He was definitely dead." All three lowered their eyes. I waited for a moment to see if any of them had anything to say before I continued. Ash spoke up.

"What did you do? Did you leave him there?" He was choking on his words, as if he knew the answer. I didn't reply. He looked up at me. "Why did you leave him there!?"

"I left because others were coming," I stated calmly. "I heard voices. They were coming to see if he was alright. I didn't want them to begin assuming things. So I left. I waited upstairs to make sure that it actually was people coming for him. After I saw them pull him out from under the chandelier, I slid out a broken window." I took a deep breath as I wrapped up my story. "I saw your battle on TV, and I realized that you are the same person I saw then. You... you were dead. Was it you?" Ash averted his eyes. He nodded shakily. "Then how are you here in front of me?"

"I... um... actually, I don't really know myself," he began. "I played with the ghost Pokémon for a little, and then told them that I couldn't stay with them because I had dreams to fulfill. So, they let me go back into my body." He shrugged. I raised my eyebrows, leaned back, and smiled.

"Jeeze... if only coming back to life was that easy... Tell me how you really somehow miraculously came back to life."

"Um... I did. That was how." I stared at him before speaking again. I still didn't quite believe him, but I'd clear everything else up after they ate something.

"Well! That probably cleared up a lot of confusion on both sides. I said I'd pay for dinner, so who's up for sandwiches?" A chorus of 'Me!' and 'I am!' and 'Pika pika!' rang out. I ordered a plate of sandwiches and some glasses of juice for the four of us. As we sat around eating, Ash spoke up again.

"We still haven't introduced ourselves, have we?" I pointed to each of them in turn.

"Ash Ketchum. Misty. Brock." I got a few more confused looks. I pointed to Ash again. "I heard your name on TV..." I pointed to Misty. "...I heard your name from Ash..." I pointed to Brock. "... And I already knew your name. As for me, my name is Amy. Amy Greenfield. Nice to meet you." No sooner were the words out of my mouth than Brock landed on the floor with a thud.

"D-did you s-say Greenfield?"

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Gasp! What does Brock know about Amy? You'll have to read chapter 3 to find out! (After I post it, of course.) Review please!


	3. Insanity at the Diner

A/N) Huzzah! I got my first review on the story today! Thank you anonymous (Kar)! I hope to get some more reviews soon...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

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**Chapter 3: Insanity at the Diner**

"D-did you s-say Greenfield?" Brock stammered. I blinked at him and nodded. He jumped back to his feet and attempted to regain his composure. "Would your father's name happen to be Damian?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes?" I replied. What was with these people? One had died and come back to life, and another knew my father's name. I couldn't remember telling him anything like that when I was at his gym. He was suddenly very excited.

"You are the daughter of **the** Damian Greenfield!" he cried. Misty, Ash, and I shot him quizzical looks. He turned to his companions. "Don't tell me you've never heard of Damian Greenfield!?" They shook their heads. "He is only the most world renowned Pokémon breeder ever!"

"Didn't you say something along those lines about Susie?" Misty asked.

"Probably forgot this guy at the time 'cause Susie was a girl." Ash muttered. He and Misty shared knowing looks. Brock laughed nervously while the other two sweatdropped.

"Well, it wasn't those words exactly..." Brock murmured.

"Yes, my father was Damian Greenfield," I said calmly. "And yes, he was a Pokémon breeder. I guess he was pretty well known, too." Brock crossed his arms and looked to the other two with an 'I told you so' expression on his face. It shifted to one of concern and he turned back to me.

"Wait... 'was'?" He asked. I nodded.

"He just vanished one day right around when I turned six." There was a brief awkward silence. Misty was the first to speak again.

"I... I'm sorry," she whispered. I cocked my head in confusion.

"Why?" I asked. "It's not like it was your fault he disappeared. He just got up and left one day. Actually, I myself don't even really know what happened. Mom never talked about it much. She disappeared, too. Three years after dad did. But I'm sure that they both had good reasons for it. Dad was a Pokémon breeder, so he probably had stuff he had to do, and mom was a Pokémon trainer, so she probably did, too. Although, sometimes I wonder what could be more important than their own daughter..." I trailed off. It took me long enough, but I eventually noticed that I had just given three people I barely knew part of my life story. Oops. I hoped that they wouldn't pick up on the fact that I had been living alone for a year before I turned ten. Technically, that was illegal. I think. "Anyway," I laughed. "That's not important right now! Moving on–"

"Then that means..." Brock interrupted me. Oh, crap. They figured it out. "That means that your mother is Anna Wright!" I stared at him. I guess they didn't figure it out. Wait a minute! He knew my mother's name too? "I mean, it all fits," he continued. "She was a Pokémon trainer, she was married to Damian Greenfield, and she disappeared about two years ago!"

"Um... yeah, that's about right," I said. "And, she was Anna Wright." Brock spoke up again.

"I can't believe it! The daughter of **the **Damian Greenfield and **the **Anna Wright!" he cried.

"Who?" Ash asked.

"I'm surprised at you!" Brock shouted. "I mean, I would have thought that even you would have heard of Anna Wright! She was a Master, Ash! Apparently, she almost caught the legendary Pokémon, Mew. She herself was a legend!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Brock," I started. "But Mew has been extinct for thousands of years. No one has seen it. Not even my mother. She wasn't as great as you portray her to be. I think she became delusional after spending a month inside Mount Moon and then a month in the Pokémon Tower, consecutively. I know that doing that would drive me mad. Neither of my parents was that great."

"You're just saying that **because** they were your parents," Brock retorted. Misty leaned over to Ash.

"Is it just me, or is he being more argumentative than he usually is?" she whispered. Ash didn't reply. He just proceeded to eat another sandwich.

"Anyway, that's enough about me, and my side of the story. I still have some questions to ask and you guys probably have some too," I said. The others nodded, with the exception of Ash, who was still preoccupied with his food. "First of all, Ash," I began. He looked up from his sandwich and gulped it down quickly. "First of all, Ash, why were you so upset when you figured out I left you in the tower?" He gawked at me.

"Why do you think?" he responded. I cleared my throat and went on.

"Good point. But, you still failed to explain how exactly you came back to life."

"I did explain that," he said, not hiding his exasperation. I didn't hide mine either.

"People don't just come back to life. Really. How did you do it? Wait! Don't answer that. I think I know."

"That's because I already **told** you," he muttered. Did I already mention how annoying he was?

"Can it," I hissed. He closed his mouth. I cleared my throat once more. "I know how you came back to life. You didn't. You are a Pokémon. A Ditto, to be more specific. Your trainer was the one who died in the tower, and you were so upset that you took his shape." All three blinked at me. Misty began to giggle softly, Brock covered his mouth and turned away, and Ash had an all-out fit. He fell out of his chair and cracked up. I crossed my arms. "Well, it was a reasonable explanation!" I huffed. "Or maybe," I started again, grinning devilishly. "Maybe you're some kind of **bug**-type, seeing as how annoying you are." No reaction. Darn. However, no sooner than I said the words 'bug-type' than Misty's eyes went wide and she let out a piercing shriek.

"Bug? Bug?! Where is it?! Kill it! KILL IT!" She pulled herself onto the table and shrieked again. Her panic only made Ash laugh harder. Misty glared at him. She clenched her fist and hit him over the head with a mallet that she removed seemingly out of nowhere. I watched this scene, rather amused. Ash stopped laughing, but I think that was only because now he was unconscious.

We were making quite a scene, and it drew the attention of the few other people in the diner, including a couple that had just walked in. It was a man and a woman. They both wore a trench coat, a hat, and extremely dark sunglasses. The man seemed rather shocked at seeing Ash unconscious. The woman grabbed his wrist and dragged him to a table in the corner of the place. They began to speak in hushed whispers that not even I, with my hypersensitive ears, could overhear. Every now and then they glanced in our direction. I figured it was most likely from the scene we were creating. I watched them with curiosity for a moment but finally turned my attention back to cleaning up.

Misty had gotten off the table and was gently shaking Ash until he woke up. Several chairs had been toppled, and the table was a mess. The plate was empty, but there were crumbs everywhere. All four glasses were empty as well, but the only reason Brock's was empty was because it was knocked over when Misty jumped on the table. Also, somehow the two Pikachu had gotten a hold of a bottle of ketchup and were sucking it down happily. More ketchup was squirted in random places across the table. I sighed and glanced at my watch...

...And nearly had a heart attack. Was that really what time it was!? I looked around wildly. I could make it, right?

"Oh, no. This is not good, not good at all..." I gasped. The others all turned to me with confused looks again. I pulled some money out of my pocket and slapped it on the table. "That should be enough to pay the bill." I snatched up my backpack and shoved my arm out for Alice to get on. I double checked to make sure I had my three Pokémon. I took off for the door. "Sorry to eat and run guys, but I really gotta go!"

"Hang on a sec!" Ash called after me.

"Sorry Ash," I called back. "But if I don't leave right now I'm going to be late for my battle!"

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Gasp again! Will Amy get to her battle on time? Or will she be eliminated before she even gets a chance to battle? Only I know! -laughs evilly- Also, I know that the plot seems to be moving really slowly. These first couple of chapters are just introducing characters to you and introducing them to each other. I swear, things will be beginning to move on a little by at least chapter five. Review please!


	4. First Round Victories

(A/N) Hey everybody! Here's chapter four. It's the first battle sequence in my fanfic! -excited excited excited- Ahem...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

* * *

**Chapter 4: First Round Victories**

I tore towards the Grass Field. I had to make it there on time. If I didn't, my opponent would automatically win and I would be out of the League before I was even in it. I didn't stop for anybody, but then again, not many people were in the streets because they were all getting ready to watch the match. I forced my way through a small crowd near the gate and ran to my box. The judge was walking toward my opponent, most likely to give them the victory. I squinted at my watch. I **was** late. I ran up to my box and climbed in.

"Don't you DARE close this match!" I hollered at the judge. The crowd roared. This meant to them that there would actually be a battle. It wasn't any fun to the audience if someone forfeited. The judge gave me a shocked look, but then shrugged and walked back to his position at the side of the field. I heard the announcer's voice come over on the speakers. He sounded genuinely excited.

"Well then, folks! It looks like we're going to have a battle after all! First time League entrant Amy Greenfield versus League veteran Caitlin Townes! That's right; Caitlin has been in the top four of this very League for three consecutive years!" The crowd cheered. I rolled my eyes. It was obvious who the favorite was.

I looked around to get my bearings. The stands were pretty full, and it was hard to pick out individual people. I tried anyway. I squinted through them all. I managed to pick out a few individuals before my vision began to blur the faces together. Among them were Ash, Misty, Brock, and the couple from the diner. They were with a third person now; another man. I shook my head to clear the blurriness and faced my opponent. She glared at me.

"You should have gone with your forfeit! It would be the easy way out!" She taunted. She had straight pink hair that fell to her waist and had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder.

"Easy? For you? Of course!" I shouted back. I heard a few people gasp at my response. Her glare strengthened. If looks could kill, I would've been dead. I pulled a Pokéball off my belt and enlarged it. "Enough talk. Let's get this battle started." She shoved her hand into her bag and removed her own Pokéball.

"This will be a three on three match, with no time limit! Begin!" the judge shouted. Caitlin and I both threw our Pokéballs.

"Go! Tangela!" she cried.

"Ri!" I called. From her Pokéball emerged, well, a Tangela. From mine emerged a Pinsir. Caitlin looked at my Pinsir and then at me.

"Ri? What kind of a name is that?" she laughed.

"Long story behind it. Hey, I'm feeling generous, so you can make the first move." She laughed at me again.

"Gladly. Tangela, use slam!" Her Tangela began to run toward Ri.

"Wait for it... wait for it..." I murmured. "NOW! Ri, use guillotine!" Ri leaned forward and caught the Tangela in the sharp pincers on top of him. He closed the pincers and Tangela fell unconscious onto the ground. The crowd fell silent. I swear, it was dead silent. You could hear a pin drop in there. The judge leaned forward over Tangela.

"Tangela is unable to battle!" He cried, raising his green flag. Everyone in the arena went nuts. I mean, it was a one-move knockout on the part of a rookie. This was almost unheard of! But, I knew that Caitlin wouldn't make the same mistake with her next Pokémon. I knew I was still at an advantage if her next types were grass-types. Pinsir was a bug-type, which are strong against grass-types. I had the overall advantage on the Grass Field itself. Caitlin called her next Pokémon.

"Ivysaur! I choose you!" I watched as the first evolution of Bulbasaur emerged from the Pokéball. The judge stepped back again.

"Begin!" he shouted.

"Ivysaur, use vine whip!" Caitlin commanded. Two long, slender vines extended from its back and snaked through the air towards Ri.

"Catch the vines and reel 'em in!" I called. The vines reached Ri and wrapped around one of the pincers. Ri closed them and trapped the vines. He then began to twist slowly, gaining speed and momentum, and thus pulling Ivysaur toward him. Caitlin's eyes widened as she realized what I was doing.

"Razor leaf!" she shouted, beginning to panic. Several leaves shot out from the Ivysaur headed toward Ri.

"Harden!" I commanded. Ri glowed briefly as he hardened his skin. The sharp leaves hit him but did no damage. Ivysaur was close enough to Ri now for me to unleash the attack. "Seismic toss!" Ri flung Ivysaur from his pincers, releasing the vines. Ivysaur went flying across the field and landed heavily underneath Caitlin's platform. The judge ran over.

"Ivysaur is unable to battle!" he stated, waving the green flag again. Caitlin called him back and sank to her knees. She was most likely really confused as to how a rookie like me was beating her so soundly. The crowd was going berserk by this point. They all wanted to see if she could make a comeback. I looked around. My vision had cleared up a little during the battle, so I scanned the crowd and located Ash and the others again. All three were standing and cheering. I smiled and picked out the trench coat people again. All three remained sitting and were politely applauding.

Something else that caught my eye was the snack vendors. One was a man with chin-length blue hair, and the other was a woman with red hair that was gelled back in really weird style. At their feet was a Meowth also wearing a vendor uniform. All three were gawking at me. They leaned into each other and had a conversation which I had no hope of overhearing due to the volume of the cheering. They seemed pretty excited about my Pokémon though, by the way they kept pointing and nodding. I turned my attention back to the field and waited for Caitlin to call her next Pokémon. She regained her composure and threw her Pokéball.

"My final Pokémon will be Exeggcute!" I rolled my eyes.

"Begin!" the judge shouted.

"Solar beam!" Caitlin hollered. I stared. Right off from the bat, huh? I guess she was worried because it was her last Pokémon. Ri went flying back into my platform. I blinked. Ri wasn't out of this yet. He pulled himself back up, but not without effort. This was odd; Ri should be super strong against this Exeggcute. It was a grass/psychic type, both of which Ri should have been strong against. Oh well.

"Focus energy! Then run forward and use vice grip!" I called. Ri charged up and ran forward, but only managed to grab one of the six eggs. The other five were deeply upset by this and threw a fit, ignoring Caitlin's commands.

"Hypnosis! Barrage! Do something! Anything!" she cried. Their ignoring her gave me an idea. I might not be able to take them all out at once, but I could do it one by one, as long as they stayed angry.

"Pick 'em up one by one and throw them away!" Ri obeyed calmly. He threw the one he had against Caitlin's platform, and then picked up another and threw it. He did this until all six eggs were unconscious. The judge ran over.

"Exeggcute is unable to battle! Victory goes to Pinsir, and the match goes to Amy!" he cried, waving the green flag again. The crowd roared. I looked up to the scoreboard to see that Caitlin's picture had been removed and the word 'Winner!' was written next to mine. I grinned and jumped down from the platform and ran next to Ri.

"Good job, Ri. You deserve a really good rest now," I said. I called him back into his Pokéball and ran over to Caitlin. She had recalled Exeggcute and was crying silently. "Good job," I congratulated her. "You put up a good fight." I smiled and held out my hand. She wiped her eyes and shook it. After shaking her hand, I attempted to make my way out of the stadium. I was stopped by a newscaster.

"How does it feel to defeat a Pokémon League veteran in the first round?" she asked. I glanced nervously at the cameraman behind her. I never liked cameras. But, I knew I wouldn't be left alone until I answered a few questions.

"I dunno," I said. "It doesn't feel any different than winning any other match." She looked at me quizzically.

"Aren't you excited at all?"

"Heck yeah, I'm excited. I get to move on to round two!" She didn't seem to know how to respond to my general disregard for the match. To me, it was just another battle. I was expecting to end up battling people like that, so I trained especially hard. I didn't see why everyone was making such a big deal about it. I left the newscaster and headed back to the diner. I don't know, there just seemed to be a charm that place had that made me keep going back. I was about halfway there when Ash, Misty, and Brock caught up to me.

"That was amazing!" Ash was going completely nuts. Misty and Brock sweatdropped nervously as their friend rambled on. "Your Pinsir just took out that Tangela with one single hit-"

"Ash," I interrupted.

"And you did the same with the Ivysaur-"

"Ash."

"And the same with the Exeggcute, but that was six hits, but there were six eggs anyhow so-"

"Ash!" He finally stopped talking. Have I mentioned how annoying he was? "Look, it wasn't nearly as impressive as you portray it to be." I said calmly. "Your match wasn't half-bad for a half-pint, though."

"Eh, heh. Thanks," he said, scratching the back of his neck. After a moment however, he realized what exactly I had said and paused, not knowing whether to feel proud or insulted. We reached the diner and for the second time that day I crashed into the window. The other three laughed quietly this time as I finally managed to get inside. I heard an odd growling sound and looked to the other three. Ash laughed again. "I guess I'm hungry again." I turned to Misty and pointed to Ash.

"What's with this guy?" I asked. Misty sighed, and then turned to Brock and dragged him inside the diner, pulling him away from a random woman who happened to be walking by. "Just the drinks are on me this time," I said after we got inside. We all got a glass of soda and situated ourselves at the same table as before. Before sitting though, Brock raised his glass as if toasting to someone.

"To old friends..." he said, nodding toward Ash. "...To new friends..." he said, nodding toward me. I beamed at the idea of being considered their friend after having known them for less than a day. "...And to their first round victories. Cheers!"

* * *

So, did I do okay with the battle? I tried to make it more like the battles in the show than in the games. In the games they're kinda boring ( I mean, what kind of Pokémon battle is turn based?), and I wanted to be a little creative with it. Review please!


	5. Enter Team Rocket

(A/N) Hello to everyone again! Here's chapter five, and like I promised (back in chapter three, I think), the story is going to start picking up the pace now! Also, Cain (mentioned in the disclaimer) is going to be inrtoduced. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Enter Team Rocket**

The next day and a half passed without much interest. Ash and I both had our second and third round battles and won handily. His battles took a little longer than mine, but I also had more experience with Pokémon overall. Now we both only had to win one more battle to advance to the actual stadium. He had to battle on the Grass Field and I had to battle on the Water Field. It was shortly after I finished my third match when things started to get exciting.

Like I said before, I had just finished my third match on the Rock Field. Ash had finished his on the Ice Field earlier that day. He, Misty, Brock, and I all went back to the diner yet again. This time I managed to not crash into the window, I'm glad to say. I breathed a sigh of relief as I sank into a chair at our usual table.

"I thought I would **never** get away from that reporter!" I gasped. "You'd think they never saw a battle before in their life!" Misty laughed.

"Well," she began. "So far, you've opened all of your battles with a one-move knockout. That's pretty impressive." Ash nodded in excited agreement. Brock stood up to get us all sodas. I looked between the members of the threesome.

"How did you guys end up traveling together in the first place?" I asked. Brock answered first.

"After Ash won his Boulder Badge, I decided to follow my dreams of becoming a great Pokémon breeder. I traveled with him."

"Won his Boulder Badge? What are you talking about? He only got it because you took pity on him!" Misty corrected. Ash scowled at her and was about to protest. I didn't feel like listening to him complain.

"What about you?" I quickly asked Misty. She thought for a moment.

"Why did I start traveling with Ash..? Oh! That's right!" She now looked very angry. "He completely demolished my bike! Don't forget you still owe me a new one!" Ash laughed nervously. I laughed from sheer amusement. Brock sat down and set down four drinks. I sat and listened as they described the days toward the beginning of their journey. They told me about some of the hectic adventures they had encountered since they met each other. They had just started telling me about a place called Dark City when I heard something on the TV that caught my attention.

"Shush! Quiet for a moment," I whispered. The three cut off. Ash looked a little annoyed that he was interrupted, but he knew that he wasn't much better about that, so he didn't say anything. I stared intently at the TV screen and listened to the announcer crying out the play-by-play of the battle. It wasn't the battle I was interested in, though.

"This has been a long and suspenseful battle, but now we have a victor! Cain Eveere is the winner!" he finished. I gawked. Misty turned away from the screen and back to me.

"Is he someone you know?" she asked.

"Someone I know? He's pretty much my best friend," I replied. "We grew up together on Seafoam Island, and he's been a kind of older brother to me. He's a year older than I am. I can't believe he's here, let alone competing! He used to hate Pokémon. I don't know what changed his mind. I don't know when he started training either. He's on the Grass Field, and that's not too far from here. Come on, I want you guys to meet him." I smiled and blushed a little.

I took the others to the Grass Field. I spotted Cain with the reporter. Unlike me, Cain had always liked the spotlight. He was clearly enjoying his interview. He pushed some of his reddish-brown hair out of his purple eyes and kept talking. I waved to catch his attention. He blinked at me, smiled, and wrapped up his interview. He came jogging over and greeted me happily.

"Hey, Amy. Long time, no see. Bet you're surprised to see me here!" He stood a good few inches taller than me. I hugged him.

"Yes I am surprised! When did you become a Pokémon trainer?" I let go of him.

"Not too long after you left. It got kinda boring on Seafoam without you around." He stared over my shoulder. "Who're they?" He asked, motioning to Ash and co.

"Cain, this is Ash, Misty, and Brock. Guys, this is Cain." I finished the introductions and then turned back to Cain. "What've you been up to since I saw you last?"

"Oh, going to gyms, earning badges, capturing Pokémon, the works." I noticed that he kept glancing anxiously at the others, as if he expected them to attack him or something.

"Something wrong?" I asked. He blinked at me and shook his head, but there was no mistaking the concern in his eyes. I didn't take much notice to it though, because I was so excited about seeing him again. I turned back to the others. "I'm gonna spend some time alone with Cain. I hope you guys don't mind." They all looked between each other and shook their heads, signifying that no, they didn't mind. Cain looked genuinely relieved. Before we went our separate ways, however, something caught my eye. Misty was looking at him with distrust. But, immediately after, my vision blurred and I figured it was a trick of the imagination. I felt around for a moment before finally managing to grab onto Cain's arm.

"Eyes are still doing that, huh?" he asked. I nodded sadly, but I wasn't about to let it ruin my day. The two of us began to walk around the Plateau, catching up on everything that had happened to us after I left Seafoam. He told me about how he got bored and lonely after I left, and after I caught my seventh Pokémon and it was transported to Professor Westwood's lab, he was charmed by it and decided to start training. I told him about meeting Ash, Misty, and Brock a few days before (but did not tell him about the fact that Ash had died, mind you). We told each other about gym battles we faced, and Pokémon we had captured.

We had been walking and talking for a while and it was starting to get dark. A light rain was starting to fall as well. It was steadily increasing in intensity. Because of my blurred vision, I didn't realize that we had ended up in a back alley somewhere until a few minutes had passed. My vision slowly cleared and I looked around nervously. Cain and I stood there in silence for a moment before he spoke again.

"Before your mom left, I heard her say something about an item. She said it was one-of-a-kind, valuable, and powerful. Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I was starting to get scared now, and my hand instinctively flew to the string tied around my neck. Why were we there? Why was he bringing this up? And why now?

"Where is it? Where is the item?" His voice was beginning to rise. I began to shake.

"Wh-who are you?" I stammered. He smirked and pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket.

"Number one-sixty-three to Team Rocket Headquarters. I've got her. We're alone. Over," he said into the walkie-talkie with absolutely no emotion. There was a fizzing noise and a feminine voice came from it.

"Double-o-nine to one-sixty-three. Good. Where's the item? Does she have it? Over."

"No, she doesn't," Cain replied. "She doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about. Maybe reinforcements will change her mind. Over."

"There should be some other Team Rocket members there. They're the ones tracking that boy and his Pikachu. What was his name again? Over."

"Ash. Yeah, I found him, too. No members of Team Rocket in sight. I'm serious here. I know this girl. She's not weak. One or two more people won't make a difference. Send reinforcements. Maybe they'll spark her memory. Over." I shook my head in disbelief. I had read articles in the newspaper about Team Rocket. I knew that they stole rare and valuable Pokémon and were always plotting world domination. Cain was a member of Team Rocket? That couldn't be right!

"Th-this... this can't be happening! You're not from Team Rocket, right, Cain?" I desperately searched for any clue that would prove this to just be a joke. He just gave me an evil grin. I felt my eyes start to water. "You're not from Team Rocket! You can't be!"

"Too bad, 'cause I am. Listen, it's about time you saw sense. You were being deceived your whole life. I have been an agent for Team Rocket since I was a kid. Ever since I was born, actually. It's my job to get you to tell us where this item is. Your mother... she had, or still has, an item that we want. You know where it is, don't you?" I shook my head fiercely. "Hmm, really? You'd better be prepared to tell the truth when the reinforcements get here, Amy." I stared blankly at him. Conflicting thoughts whirled through my head. _He's from Team Rocket. But he's my best friend. No, he's a criminal! But, he's lying. He has to be! This is all a joke! No, this is all too serious. He's been lying to me my whole life. My best friend... no, my worst enemy._

_He lied to me._

I was angry now.

"You... you lied to me..." I trailed off. Cain sneered at me and nodded. "You played yourself as my best friend so that I could unintentionally serve your greedy, egotistical ways? You acted as a brother to me so that you could control your own little corner of the world? And now, you're standing here, betraying me!?" I was losing control. "I trusted you! I TRUSTED YOU!" Alice hopped down from my shoulder, cheeks sparking. She was angry too. We had both been lied to. "You want to spark my memory? I'LL GIVE YOU A SPARK! Alice!" She nodded and jumped up into the air.

"Piii-kaaa-CHUUUU!" she cried. She unleashed a powerful thunderbolt. It struck Cain dead-on. He screamed in pain and fell face first to the ground. He was alive though. He was breathing. He pushed the button in on his walkie-talkie.

"Reinforcements... now..." he gasped, right before falling unconscious. I stared, covering my mouth. Everything that happened just then had left me scared and confused. I stared. I cried.

And I ran.

* * *

So, how did you like it? Getting exciting, no? Hmm... what could this mysterious item be? Only I know! Muahahahaha! Also, kudos to those who know who double-o-nine is. Review please! I would really appreciate reviews before chapter six goes up. Any comments, questions, or concerns- don't be afraid to review to say so!


	6. I Found Her Crying

(A/N) Hello again to everyone! Thank you to Suzurin and anonymous (Rose) for reviewing! It means a lot. Thank's again. Ahem, moving on, I will be attempting to write this chapter from Ash's POV. Argh! What am I doing? Somebody stop me before I post this... Ah, too late. T_T Ah, well. Let's get on with the story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

* * *

**Chapter 6: I Found Her Crying**

After Amy left with Cain, Misty, Brock and I were kinda at a loss as to what to do. We just stood there for a moment. It was Misty who broke the silence.

"So, what should we do?" She asked. I tried to keep from laughing.

"Silence breaker," I laughed. Misty shot me a deadly look.

"Don't be so immature," she said. She repeated her question. "What should we do?"

"I'm all for getting something to eat," I suggested. Misty sighed.

"All you ever think about is food! Can't you think about something other than your stomach for just ten minutes?" she shouted.

"I think about Pokémon too!" I protested.

"Alright, I'll rephrase that. All you ever think about are battling and eating!"

"I think about other things, too!"

"Like what?"

"Like... um..."

"Exactly!" Brock chose this time to step in.

"Alright, you guys, settle down," he said. Misty and I both quieted down. I think that was the first time we actually stopped arguing when Brock told us to. "Actually, getting something to eat wouldn't be that bad. Those sodas we had aren't exactly a meal." Misty sighed but she did agree. We spent the next couple of hours trying to find someplace to eat, and to actually eat there. There were a couple minutes somewhere in there that I spent really disoriented because I got hit in the head by Misty's mallet again, but those don't matter much.

Afterward, we pretty much wandered around. There was really nothing going on that was **really** important until my battle the next day. I was pretty bored. I suggested that we watch some of the Pokémon battles going on, but this just got me a few more knocks in the head. Courtesy of Misty, of course. Eventually, Brock occupied himself by chasing around a bunch of girls, and Misty occupied herself by trying to calm Brock down. This still left me, bored as can be.

With Misty and Brock doing their own things, it gave me time to try to answer some of the questions that were floating around in my head since we met Amy. How did she manage to capture a ghost Pokémon? How did she beat Brock's Onix with one hit? I thought back to her three battles so far. On the Grass Field, how did she beat her opponent so quickly? On the Ice Field, how did she pull off that sliding kick with her Hitmonlee? How did she manage to capture the Aerodactyl that she used on the Rock Field? I had only ever seen one of those, and it tried to **eat** me before getting buried under a couple layers of rock.

I heard voices now. They were calling my name. Don't think I'm crazy or anything, it was just Misty and Brock. I just didn't pay any attention to them. I felt Pikachu jump off of my head. And I **definitely **felt the electric shock that came afterwards. I looked down at Pikachu.

"What did you do that for?" I asked. Misty was the one who replied.

"You weren't acting normal. You got all serious all of a sudden and you wouldn't snap out of it," she said. I blinked at her.

"Oh, I was just thinking," I laughed. She sighed.

"That's a first," she muttered. Brock quickly stepped between us before we could start fighting again. "Anyway," she continued. "As I was telling Brock, I have to say, I'm a little worried."

"About what?" I asked.

"About Amy!" she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "That Cain, I don't trust him." I stared.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"Did you see the way he was looking at us?" she asked. "It was like he was afraid of us. And, did either of you happen to look on the back of his left hand?" Brock and I shook our heads. "There was a letter branded there. That means it was burned into his skin." She had directed the second sentence at me.

"I know what it means!"

"Sure you do. Anyhow, it was the letter 'R'. And we all know too well what organization that the letter 'R' is the insignia for." Brock and I thought for a moment. I still didn't get it. Brock obviously did though, because he had an answer.

"Team Rocket," he said. Oh. Now I got it.

"It could just be coincidence," I suggested. I remembered my first doubts about Amy, how I thought she was in Team Rocket. Was she?

"Maybe, but maybe not," Misty replied. "I think we should look for her." I shrugged. I guess it would keep me from being bored. The three of us began our search. It was getting dark now, and starting to rain, and I was beginning to wonder if it was really worth it. Judging by the way she battled, she could take care of herself, and if she wasn't threatened by Team Rocket in any way, then there was no point in even looking. The rain was a downpour now. I was wet and tired, and was hungry, too.

That's when I saw it. I don't think anyone else would have noticed. They would have passed it off as a lightning strike or something. But I would recognize a thunderbolt attack anywhere. I took off in that direction with Misty and Brock running close behind.

I found her crying on a bench in a side street. Amy, I mean. Her Pikachu sat beside her making quiet noises to calm Amy down. Misty, Brock and I stood by awkwardly for a moment before I asked,

"Amy, you okay?" She stopped crying for a moment and looked up at me.

"What do **you** think?" she shouted. Oops. I guess I said the wrong thing. She continued crying. Misty sat in the empty space next to Amy and tried her luck.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I-it's... it's C-cain... he's..." Amy was having trouble forming words. Misty finished for her.

"Cain's from Team Rocket." Amy stopped crying again and looked up with a shocked expression on her face. Misty explained, "I saw the insignia on his hand." Amy went back to crying and started nodding. Brock opened his mouth as if to say something, but didn't. I knew I probably shouldn't have said anything, but I tried again anyhow.

"I would say I know how you feel, but then I'd be lying." Right away I wished I hadn't said it. I braced myself for her to start shouting again. But to my surprise, and I think Brock and Misty's, too, Amy fell completely silent. She wasn't shouting, but she wasn't crying anymore, either. I jumped when she finally spoke.

"You're honest." Erm, how do I respond to something like that? Luckily, I didn't have to, because she wasn't finished yet. "I like that. There... there aren't many people like that in the world anymore..." She stood up, wiping her eyes. "Thanks..." And then she passed out on the spot. Oh. That's just great.

* * *

T_T Argh... Ah, well. Did I do okay, or should I just stick with Amy's POV? Review! On a side note, for those of you that enjoyed the battle sequence in chapter four, another one's on the way! Stay tuned for chapter seven! (Ack! OoO I sound like a narrarator for a TV show now!)


	7. Gotta Love Tsunami

(A/N) Hey everyone! Here's chapter seven, and it's back in Amy's POV. Thank you to Suzurin for reviewing! And, for those of you that enjoyed the battle sequence in chapter four, you're gonna love the next two chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Gotta Love Tsunami**

I woke up in the lobby of the Pokémon Center to see Misty, Ash, the two Pikachu, and Misty's egg (I found out its name was Togepi) all staring at me. I blinked at them and sat up. They all sighed with relief.

"What happened?" I asked.

"After you passed out, we brought you to the Pokémon center. Brock's out right now trying to find out who your next battle is against," Misty explained.

"Oh. What time is it?"

"Twelve forty-five," Ash answered. He paused for a moment, and then added as an after thought, "P.M." I thought for a moment before realization hit.

"Shoot! You didn't miss your battle because of me, did you?" He shook his head.

"Nope! I won, too!" Honestly, that boy smiles so much one has to wonder why his mouth is still attached to his face.

"Well, congrats," I told him. I thought again before another realization sank in. My battle was at one o-clock. Oh, shoot. I shot up off the seat and made a mad dash for the door. Alice bounded after me. The others, not knowing how to react, just watched. I checked to make sure I had my three Pokémon. Yep, I did. I made a move for the door again and ran square into Brock.

"Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his chest. He looked down to see me standing there and his face darkened. "I found out who your battle is against," he said. "You're not going to like it."

"No time, Brock! Time is everything. If I don't get going right now, I'm gonna be late! See ya!" I bolted. I honestly didn't care at that point who I was against, just as long as I got a chance to battle them. I was a bit curious, though, as to why Brock said I 'wouldn't like it'. I faintly heard the others following me to the Water Field. I made it to the field and ran to my box just as the announcer was calling my name. Perfect timing.

"In the green corner, we have Amy Greenfield, from Seafoam Island!" I grinned and climbed into my box. I looked around in the stands for the people I had been keeping track of since my first battle there: Ash, Misty, Brock, the trench coat trio, and the snack vendors. I found them all quickly, and satisfied, turned to face the other box. The announcer was starting to introduce my opponent.

"In the red corner, we have... Hmm... That's interesting..." He trailed off, but only for a moment because the crowd gathered started shouting at him. He cleared his throat and continued. "This should be an epic match! The only two trainers ever registered from Seafoam Island will be competing here today!" Oh, no. Not him. Anybody but him. "The trainer in the red corner, Cain Eveere!" Cain strode calmly to his box and smirked at me.

"Fancy meeting you here, Amy," he sneered. "Although, you did know we would battle eventually. It's a shame, really, that it was so soon. I really would have expected you to make it farther." Now I was ticked off. Ah well. I would satisfy myself by kicking his sorry butt. I was about to retort to him, but the judge raised his flags and told us to begin. I smiled. I knew exactly what I was going to do.

"I choose you! Helix!" I tossed my Pokéball into the water. It opened, revealing an Omastar. A ripple of shock ran through the crowd. The announcer was really confused.

"Where on earth is she getting these extinct Pokémon!?" he shouted. Cain rolled his eyes and released his Pokémon. From the glowing light emerged a Starmie.

"Starmie here is my most powerful water-type," he explained. I smiled. This would be easier than I thought! I hadn't even released my secret weapon yet! This was gonna be good. "Starmie, use swift!" Cain cried. I issued my own command.

"Mud shot!" Helix shot a clump of mud at Starmie. It dampened the blow of the swift attack and continued flying toward Starmie.

"Rapid spin!" Cain ordered. Starmie spun with incredible speed and shook the mud right off. It continued spinning and went flying toward Helix. I waited until the Starmie couldn't possibly avoid attack before issuing one.

"Bite it!" Helix clamped down hard on one of Starmie's points, stopping it mid-spin. "Now, use hydro pump!" Water blasted out of the opening that held Starmie fast, knocking it across the field. A hush fell over the crowd as Starmie slumped and the gem in the middle began to flash. The judge raised the flag to signify that Starmie could no longer battle. To my surprise, Cain was smiling.

"This isn't over yet," he hissed. "Starmie, recover." Starmie's gem glowed briefly, there was a flash, and Starmie straightened up again, ready for more. I bit my lip. I should have been expecting that. I glanced nervously toward Helix. He couldn't take much more of this. The announcer was going nuts.

"What is going on here? Where is one of the one-hit KOs that Amy Greenfield has made herself known for? I thought this would be an epic battle, and so far, it looks like I was right!" I felt a sudden urge to cover my ears. Cain was preparing his next attack. I attacked first.

"Helix, use spike cannon!" That should finish this. Just as long as it didn't know a decent counter attack. I had learned training it that its spike cannon never missed, and it often made a critical hit.

"Starmie, use blizzard!" WHAT? Blizzard wasn't a natural move for Starmie to learn!

"Helix, get out of there!" Helix made to dive under the water, but was hit by the blizzard attack first. It was suddenly frozen in a solid block of ice.

"Starmie, finish it off! Use psychic!" That wasn't a natural move, either! The psychic attack took its toll. The judge rushed over.

"Omastar is unable to battle!" he cried, waving the red flag. I recalled Helix. The crowd had fallen completely silent. I heard someone in the audience shout 'What the heck!?' Oh, trust me, person, I was confused too. Cain crossed his arms defiantly.

"Beat that," he spat. Alright, I would do just that. The announcer was boiling with anticipation.

"Who will Greenfield's next Pokémon be? Does she think it can defeat this powerhouse of a Pokémon?" I smiled. Who said I was planning to **defeat **his Starmie with my next Pokémon? I pulled another Pokéball off my belt.

"Alright, Red, your turn!" I called, tossing it onto one of the platforms in the water. It flashed as it opened, revealing a large Poliwrath standing there. Cain looked at it for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"You named your Poliwrath Red?" he asked. "Are you colorblind or something? Everybody knows that Poliwrath are blue!" I ground my teeth.

"I have my reasons!" I shouted back. "Enough talk, let's battle! Red, use focus punch!"

"Starmie, water gun," Cain said dismissively, yawning for effect. The water gun had a direct hit on Red, but had no effect. Cain blinked in confusion.

"It's a special ability called 'water absorb'. It turns water into HP," I explained with a grin. Cain twitched nervously.

"Well then, I'll just have to avoid using water attacks. Swift!" The stars began to fly toward Red.

"Use doubleslap!" Red slapped the stars carelessly aside, and even managed to knock a few back into Starmie.

"Starmie, recover!" Cain commanded. Perfect. I had to act fast if I wanted this to work.

"Red, use hyper beam! Aim for the water!" I called. Cain looked increasingly confused. Good. The hyper beam hit the water with incredible force. A thick fog of steam rose off the water, and water sprayed everywhere. I called one more command to Red. I knew that Red and I were the only ones who could hear it, so that wasn't a problem. The only problem was that my plan might backfire. The attack I told Red to use normally affected the user. I was hoping that it would affect Starmie instead. The fog eventually cleared and I saw stars flying toward Red. He didn't have time to react and fell. The judge ran over.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle!" The crowd was going completely insane. I was the person who never had to switch Pokémon, and here I was, with two Pokémon down. The announcer was even worse than the audience.

"This is incredible! Amy Greenfield has two Pokémon down, and Cain Eveere isn't even breaking a sweat! Can Greenfield pull an impressive comeback? This is incredibly different than any other battles this girl has faced since she arrived here! It is obvious that......" I stopped paying attention to the announcer. I pulled my last Pokéball off my belt and stared at it. Cain smirked.

"There's no way you can win. Just give up and spare yourself the humiliation!" he shouted. Much to his surprise though, and everyone else in the stadium, I began to laugh. It wasn't a quiet, sad laugh that one was to expect from someone who was losing. No, it was a loud, maniacal laugh that I had spent several brief moments practicing, much to the dismay of the Pikachu who now hopped off my shoulder and began sparking nervously on the ground. She knew who I was going to use. I stopped laughing and held my Pokéball out in front of me.

"You may have beaten my Omastar," I began. "And you may have beaten my Poliwrath," I continued. "But! Do you think you can defeat a Tsunami? I choose you!" I threw the Pokéball straight into the water. "Nami!" There was a flash and it returned to my hand. Nobody could see what Pokémon I had chosen because it was at the bottom of the Water Field. All anyone could see was a large shadow writhing under the water. Cain looked a little nervous.

"Alright, you may have had a fancy speech, but that doesn't mean that anything you can throw at me will beat my Starmie!" he cried. Now it was my turn to smirk.

"How much do you wanna bet?" I laughed. "Alright, Nami, let's show pretty-boy here what we can do!"

"Pretty-boy!?" Cain protested. But he said nothing else, because at that moment, Nami emerged from the water. She rose up high, rearing her majestic head above the entire field. I heard the shocked gasps throughout the crowd as they watched the Gyarados draw herself up to her full height.

"Gotta love Tsunami," I whispered.

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Wheeee! Let the two-chapter battle begin! Do you like it so far? Who will win this battle? Amy, or Cain? And kudos to those who can figure out where the heck I've been getting the Pokémon's names from! Review!


	8. Power Play

(A/N) Hello everyone! Chapter eight is here, and it's the second part in the two part battle. Thank you to anonymous (Rosie), Suzurin, and kilala223 for reviewing! Suzurin, you were close about the names, but not quite. First of all, the Gyarados' name is actually 'Nami', not 'Tsunami'. Sorry about that confusion. Anyhoo, some old characters are coming back in this chaper. Read on to see who!

Also, I made a slight change to chapter 5. It was a one sentance addition, but it was important. Ah! Not important enought to have to go back and re-read the chapter, though. Sorry. I just thought I would mention that.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

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**Chapter 8: Power Play**

Nami was one of my most powerful Pokémon. I knew even before she evolved from a Magikarp that she would be one of my most powerful. Normally, Magikarp can only learn the attacks splash and tackle, but Nami was special. I managed to teach her how to use water gun and bubble. Now, she had an extremely wide range of attacks that made her a force to be reckoned with.

I looked across the field to see Cain's reaction. He stood there, mouth agape. He knew that his Starmie was getting tired, and that it couldn't last very long against Nami. My vision began to blur again, so I decided to get on with the match.

"Nami, use hydro pump," I said. She blasted water from her mouth, hitting the Starmie dead-on and knocking it against Cain's platform. He yelped from being brought back to reality.

"S-starmie, recover!" he gasped, evidently in shock from the sudden attack. However, Starmie did not use recover. Instead, it turned around to face Cain. "What are you doing?" he spat, beginning to regain composure. "Recover!" Starmie did nothing. My earlier strategy had worked! I decided to put him out of his misery and explain.

"Silly Cain," I began. "Haven't you ever heard of the attack amnesia?" He blinked at me.

"Yes... but that affects the user, not the opponent," he replied.

"Maybe so, but you also have to remember who you're dealing with here. After he used hyper beam on the water, I told Red to use amnesia. You're right, it normally does affect the user, but with some extreme training and a little, okay, a lot, of luck, it will affect the opponent," I explained. "Starmie has forgotten how to use recover." Cain gawked at me. I continued, "Alright, Nami, let's finish this! Use another hydro pump!" She obeyed, and shortly after, the judge deemed Starmie unable to battle. Cain recalled it. The announcer was being a madman. Again.

"It looks like Greenfield may be able to make a comeback! However, she still has only one Pokémon left, while Cain Eveere has two left, neither of which has entered the battle yet. Greenfield is at a huge disadvantage!" Oh, we'll see about that. He continued, "What will Eveere's next Pokémon be?"

"You want to use Gyarados, huh? Alright, I'll use a Gyarados too! Go!" He tossed his own Pokéball into the water. From it emerged, of course, a Gyarados. Alright, I could work with that.

"Hmm, looks like we were both planning to use a Gyarados. Well, you know what they say. Great minds think alike," I said. I paused for dramatic effect. "So, tell me. Who told you to use Gyarados?" Cain scowled. I heard a person in the crowd shout 'Ouch buuurn!' Most likely it was the same person that shouted out earlier in the battle. "Enough talk," I finally stated. "Let's battle."

"That, I have to agree to," Cain muttered through clenched teeth.

"Alright, Nami! Show us your twister!" Nami created an incredible twister, and because it was on the water, it became a kind of water cyclone. It roared around the field, lifting up the floating platforms and tossing them effortlessly aside. It continued to tear around, before engulfing Cain's Gyarados. It stopped spinning to reveal his Gyarados seemingly uninjured. I knew better though. Even with my blurred vision, I could tell that it was in pain.

"You actually think that that would have any effect on my Gyarados. Yours may be your 'secret weapon' or whatever, but mine is just as tough," Cain sneered. I rolled my eyes.

"It's not your strongest," I pointed out calmly. "It's not your strongest because I already defeated your Starmie." He snarled at me. Tough luck, but he couldn't argue with my logic. Unless he could pull an electric-type on me, I had this battle in the bag. And I highly doubted that he had even considered an electric-type. He hadn't expected me to get passed his Starmie.

"Argh! I don't care if it's not my strongest, I'm still gonna win!" he shouted. It was easy to tell I was getting on his nerves. "Gyarados, use dragon dance!" Dragon dance? I didn't know what the heck that was. His Gyarados began to writhe and twist above the water, and it was then that I remembered what that person back in Cerulean City had told me as they battled my newly evolved Gyarados.

During the battle, Nami had begun to move much in this same fashion. When I asked her what she was doing, the person I was battling said, _"Dragon dance. It's a passive attack that raises the user's speed and attack power."_ Cain's Gyarados was raising its attack power? That wasn't good.

"That's enough, Gyarados," Cain whispered. His Gyarados stopped making the unusual movements. "Use hyper beam." Uh oh. I had to do something fast or this battle would be over.

"Counter it with your own hyper beam!" I called, hoping that Nami would still be fast enough to react in time. I felt myself crossing my fingers behind my back. The two hyper beams were released at the exact same time and collided in the center of the field with an incredible amount of force. I was almost glad that my vision was blurry or I would have had to shield them from the light.

The force of the hyper beams pushed back and forth for a moment. It all depended on which Pokémon was strongest and could hold out the longest. Both Pokémon made one last desperate push with their power and the hyper beams exploded. Neither Cain nor I was going to call another command until we saw the results. The smoke from the explosion began to clear, but just as I was beginning to be able to see things again, a thick, black, smoke covered the field. I heard a woman's voice ring out.

"Prepare for trouble!" she shouted.

"And make it double!" a male joined in. The smoke was clearing up a little by this point, and my vision along with it. I could see a woman and a man standing on a large robot in the middle of the field (yes, it was in the water). I took a closer look and realized that they were the snack vendors that had been so interested in my Pokémon!

"To protect the world from devastation!" the woman continued.

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" the man added, holding up a rose.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!" the woman yelled, jumping into the air.

"James!" the man cried out his own name, jumping after his comrade.

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" I raised an eyebrow at the two of them. Things got even weirder when a Meowth jumped up to stand in front of them.

"Meowth, dat's right!" it added to the end of the motto. I felt my mouth fall open. I pointed at the Meowth.

"Th-that Meowth just talked," I stammered. I was too preoccupied with the fact that the Meowth was talking to notice that they had said they were from Team Rocket. Cain hit his forehead with his palm.

"What are you three bozos doing here?" he sighed. The woman, Jessie, turned to face him.

"Ah!" she happily cried. "Mr. Eveere! How nice to see you. Well, we're the ones who have been assigned to track the twerp trio!" That was when it clicked in my head that they were members of Team Rocket. Despite that, Cain didn't look too thrilled to see them. I turned my attention away from the Meowth and addressed Jessie.

"Hey!" I shouted. "The last thing I need right now is more of you guys!" They all ignored me. The man, James, sat down and protested to Jessie.

"I hate having to take orders from a kid," he muttered, motioning toward Cain. The Meowth sat with him, nodding. Jessie hit the two over the head with a fan.

"Listen you two, it's a good thing that he's a higher-up, because it means he can promote us. If we can show him how easily we can take that twerpette's Pokémon, he might give us a pay raise," she explained.

"Twerpette!?" I protested. It was now that the trio took notice of me.

"Ah, yes! Time to get going!" Jessie shouted. "Go, Arbok!" she cried, throwing a Pokéball.

"You better be ready too, Weezing!" James added. A Weezing floated down to stop next to him. I guess that was the source of the smoke. I blinked at them.

"Enough of these clowns," I muttered. "Hey, Cain, let's get on with the match!"

"Good idea."

"Hey, don't ignore us!" all three of the Rockets yelled.

"Hey! Team Rocket!"

"Won't you three ever learn?"

"Yeah, mind your own business!" I turned around to see that the voices these outbursts belonged to were Ash, Misty, and Brock. All three were standing. I located the trench coat trio again. One of the men in the trio was covering his face with his palm while the other two patted his back. Okay then.

"Alright, Pikachu, are you ready to make them blast off again?" Ash continued. But, he never got a chance to do anything. It was at that moment when a whole team of Officer Jennies strode onto the field and arrested the trio, removing them and the robot.

"It looks like Team Rocket's getting carted away..." all three of them groaned. I cleared my throat.

"Okay, um, are you ready to get on with the match?" I asked Cain.

"Um, sure." We both braced ourselves, neither wanting to make the first move.

"Dragon rage!" we finally shouted simultaneously. The storm like attack whirled around for a long time. Cain and I watched nervously. Whichever Gyarados had more stamina would win this battle. I hoped that it was mine. I heard the announcer shouting again.

"After that brief distraction, this battle is back underway! Wow, that's some real power play going on down there right now. I have a feeling that only one of those Pokémon is going to make it through that attack!" The smoke cleared once more, revealing the winner of the Gyarados duel. It was Nami! I cheered, but my joy was short-lived, because I remembered that I still had to defeat one more Pokémon of Cain's. I wondered who he would choose. He smiled.

"Just like you saved the best for last, so did I," he murmured. "I choose my most powerful Pokémon, Ditto!" I blinked.

"I thought Starmie was your most powerful," I pointed out. He laughed.

"My most powerful water-type, actually," he reminded me. "Alright, Ditto, transform!" Ditto began to glow as it took on another shape. "Contrary to popular belief," Cain began. "Ditto can transform into any Pokémon it's met before." I watched as the Ditto transformed itself into a large Venusaur. "Ditto, use solar beam!" Oh, shoot.

"Get under the water!" I called to Nami. She was getting tired, and I don't think she could handle a powerful attack like solar beam. She slid under the water and the beam missed. I sighed with relief. I had to think of something, and fast. I suddenly remembered that Nami had an extremely wide move pool. Cain may have had a fresh Pokémon, but I had the element of surprise. "Come back up!" Nami rose out of the water again. Cain laughed.

"You just put your Pokémon into the line of fire!" he stated. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"Line of **fire**, huh Cain? You couldn't have been more correct." He was looking confused now. "Nami!" I called. "Use fire blast!" Cain's mouth dropped open. The fire blast was a direct hit.

"T-transform!" Cain cried, desperate to get out of the bad situation. The Ditto/Venusaur glowed and shifted into a smaller shape. It stopped glowing to reveal a Raichu. Alright, I could work with that. Wait, Raichu was an electric type. Not good. "Ditto, use thunder!"

"Get out of the water, Nami! Quickly!" Nami got out as fast as she could. The thunder attack hit its mark. I flinched, expecting Nami to go down. She surprised everyone, though, by withstanding the attack. I decided to surprise Cain again. "Nami, use earthquake!" She shot back into the water and the entire stadium began to shake. The Ditto/Raichu wobbled and fell over, transforming back into Ditto. It wasn't finished, though. It began to transform again, this time into an Alakazam. Nami bit it before it could make a move. It reverted back into Ditto.

The battle went like this for a long time. Ditto would transform into different Pokémon, and Nami would use an attack, usually one that Gyarados don't normally learn. Eventually, both Cain and I stopped ordering commands to breathe a little. I could feel the anticipation boiling around the stadium. I finally decided it was time to take this Ditto out before it could transform again

"Alright Nami, let's finish this," I called, beginning the final command. "Use hyper beam!" The hyper beam blasted out of Nami's mouth and hit its mark on the Ditto. Ditto slumped to the ground. The judge ran over. A hush fell over the crowd. Everyone was holding there breath. After a moment of tension that felt like forever, the judge straightened up.

He raised the green flag.

"Ditto is unable to battle! Gyarados wins the battle, and the match goes to Amy Greenfield!" Pandemonium ensued. The crowd was going nuts. The announcer was going mad. And I was going to round five! Cain didn't share my excitement, though. He recalled his Ditto and clenched his fists.

"I'll show you..." he snarled under his breath. "I'll show all of you, what a Rocket can do!" He pitched another Pokéball into the air. From it emerged a Charizard. Cain leaped onto its back and pointed at me. "I'll teach you to mess with me, Amy! Charizard, use flamethrower!" I blinked. This would be good. He was attacking a water-type with a fire-type attack. I rolled my eyes, laughed, and issued my own command.

"Nami, one last attack! Use hydro pump!" I cried. The hydro pump blasted through the flamethrower and threw the Charizard backwards. Cain bit his lip. I think he knew it was time to retreat. He ordered his Charizard to fly away.

"This isn't the last you've heard of me, Amy! And don't think I'll be letting you off so easy next time!" And then he was gone. I sighed with relief, recalled Nami, and sank to the ground. Alice ran up to me.

"Well, we did it. It took a while but we finally did it," I laughed. So the two of us sat there laughing, enjoying our brief moment alone before the reporter arrived.

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Well, there it is! -sighs with relief- Glad I finished that battle. Anyhoo, I would not reccomend trying some of these things in the games, i.e. the amnesia trick. Anyway, be on the lookout for chapter 9. Review, please!


	9. The Meaning of Loss

(A/N) Hello everyone! I know that it took me a little longer than usual to update, but there was a weird problem with my computer that took forever to fix. Anyhoo, here is chapter nine, and a couple of interesting things will happen, thus finally initiating the main plotline! Wheee! Ahem... anyway, just as a forewarning, this is a more serious chapter. Tone-wise, I mean.

Thank you to kilala223 and Suzurin for reviewing! Don't worry, Suzurin, the origin of the names will be revealed in time. As will the reason why Cain used that Charizard...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

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**Chapter 9: The Meaning of Loss**

The reporter was merciful, I'm glad to say. She could see I was tired. She mostly asked only 'yes' or 'no' questions, so I mostly only had to nod or shake my head. I was exceedingly exhausted. I just sat, moving my head around, but making no effort to leave the stadium. I would have fallen asleep on the spot if it wasn't for what happened next.

I heard it before I saw it. The reporter had just started to ask me another question when a peculiar sound attracted my attention. The sound was... nothing. The entire stadium had fallen silent. The crowd made no sounds at all. Not even the rustle of people shifting in their seats could be heard. Even the announcer had stopped jabbering. Now the only person speaking was newswoman. She realized this after a moment and she too fell silent.

All attention was turned toward the red box on the other side of the field. I pulled myself to my feet, my legs screaming in protest. I ignored them. I had to know what everyone was looking at. I stared over at the place where Cain had been standing a few minutes before. Now, instead of a twelve-year-old boy standing there, an adult woman stood. She wore a trench coat. And a hat. And very dark sunglasses. She was the woman member of the 'trench coat trio,' as I had taken to calling them. Oh, great. What now!?

"What do you want?" I called to her. No response. "Really, the last thing I need right now are more members of Team Rocket, so can you come back some other time?" Still no response. "Do you wanna battle or something?" She began to laugh now. What was so funny?

"I'm not in Team Rocket, kiddo. You have the wrong person. Ex. TR member is somewhere over there," she said, gesturing towards the other members in her trio. They didn't look too thrilled. She continued, "I don't want to battle, either. I want to tell you something. Congratulate you." I raised an eyebrow.

"On what? On the battle?"

"No. On opening up." What did that mean? She wasn't done talking though. "I'm glad that you are finally coming out of the shadows. I've been hiding in the shadows for far too long now. But, what I need you to do is to go back to Shadow for just a little while longer." Umm... cryptic much? I was about to ask her what she meant by all that when she vanished. That was it. She just disappeared. The rest of the trench coat trio was gone too.

I didn't know why, but what she said haunted me. I was afraid again. I spent the next few days while the quarter-finals (or whatever they were called. There were sixteen people left) were being organized wandering around. I barely saw anything of Ash, Misty, or Brock. I saw nothing of the trench coat trio, the Team Rocket trio, or Cain. It was all pretty boring. The entire time I did nothing but ponder the message that woman had given me. There had to be something hidden in it. Did she just have bad grammar, or did she say 'shadow' without an article for a reason? And why was it singular? I was tired of thinking, so I decided it was time for a nap. I would wake up before Ash's battle that day.

I missed Ash's fifth round battle. I had been dead tired from all my worrying, and slept through it. Oops. I would have to go apologize for that. I got up and began to walk to the place where Ash and his friends were staying. It was dark out. I wondered if they were even still awake. I got my answer when I arrived. The lights were on. I knocked and entered.

"Hello," I said, striding in and sitting on the arm of a chair. Brock stood up and greeted me back, then introduced me to Delia Ketchum (Ash's mother) and Professor Samuel Oak. We were having a normal discussion and I was about to ask where Ash and Misty were, when I heard Misty shout from the other room.

"Alright, then! Fine!" She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I flinched.

"Did I come at a bad time?" I asked. She blinked at me and shook her head sadly.

"No. It's actually a good time. Maybe you can talk some sense into Ash." Misty proceeded to explain to me that Ash had lost his fifth round battle to a new friend he made not long before because his Charizard refused to listen to him. Ouch. Poor guy.

"What makes you think he'll listen to me though? If he ignored you, and you've known him way longer that I have..."

"He admires you. You're a great trainer, and he looks up to you as a role model." I thought about that for a moment.

"I'll try my luck," I finally muttered, standing up and heading toward the room. I paused before entering, wondering if I should knock. I decided not to and walked right in.

"Go away, Misty," Ash spoke up before I had the chance to open my mouth. He was lying on his side on the bottom bunk of the bed, facing away from the door. He sounded really dejected. It almost hurt to hear him like this. He was normally so high-spirited.

"I'm Amy, genius," I replied. No response. Oops. Sarcasm probably wasn't the best way to start things off. Oh well. "Misty told me what happened," I continued, trying to remedy the situation. "I'm sorry." No response. "But hey, everybody loses sometimes, right?" No response. Now I was getting annoyed. "Alright, Ash. That's enough! You lost one stinking battle, so what? There are gonna be loads others-"

"But none like this." Finally! I got a response out of him!

"Ash, there are other leagues-"

"This was the most important battle of my life." Oh, goodness. He's playing the woe-is-me game.

"You're gonna say that about another battle at some other time, I can assure-"

"How would you know?" I really wish he would quit interrupting me. I was about to speak again, but Ash wasn't finished. "You've never lost a battle in your life. You told me so. And if you have lost a battle, you'd be a liar." I sighed.

"You're right, I have never lost a battle, but-"

"No. You've never lost anything in your life. You don't know what it's like to lose. Go away."

"Battles aren't the only thing you can lose, Ash. And if battles are the only thing you've lost, then you don't know the definition of the word 'loss.'" This seemed to catch him off guard, and for the first time since I entered the room, he rolled over to face me.

"What do you mean?" he inquired, his confusion evident.

"Would you like me to list all the things I've lost, Ash? Because I will. I lost both my parents, and with them, my home. I lost all the Pokémon my parents had that I had considered my friends." I paused now and reached up to touch the corner of my eye. "I was born blind. I made a sudden miraculous recovery, but my sight has been getting worse again." Ash's eyes widened. I continued, "I've even lost my best friend for crying out loud!" He turned away again. "Now tell me I don't know what it's like to lose," I hissed. "At least you have a mother."

I didn't know what it was, but when I said that, something seemed to snap inside Ash. He stood up sharply and faced me. He looked **really** ticked off. He marched toward me and gave me an angry shove toward the wall. I stumbled backward, and found myself afraid again. I hadn't known him very long, but Ash struck me as the kind of guy that rarely got mad. Seeing him **this** angry was creepy.

"At least I have a mother, huh?" he said quietly, backing off a little. He was shaking. And for the first time since I entered the room, Ash raised his voice to a shout. "Well at least you had a father!" He pointed to the door. "Get out." I blinked at him. So much for trying to help. But the shock from the things he had just said caused me to turn toward the door and pull it open. I looked back at him once and could have sworn he was crying, but I didn't want to stay in there any longer than I had to. So I left.

I strode through the main room toward the front door, ignoring the shocked faces of everyone else in the room. They had heard everything. I pulled open the front door and stepped outside, slamming it behind me. I sat on the front step and screamed in frustration. I hung my head, pondering the argument. Who was right? What did it really mean to lose something?

I clicked a Pokéball off my belt and examined it. It wasn't an ordinary Pokéball though. The top half was blue instead of the regular red. There were two raised red stripes leading away at an angle from a white 'G' etched onto the surface. It was a Great Ball. I used them to contain some of my more powerful Pokémon. This one held Terra, my Aerodactyl. I thought about other Pokémon that I had used Great Balls to capture. There was my Onix, Anya, and my Gengar...

That's when it clicked. I thought back to what that woman had told me after my match. And now, staring at the Great Ball, I knew what I had to do. I snapped it back on my belt and stood up. I looked to Alice, and she nodded. She knew it too. We both took off in the direction of the registration building.

We returned a half an hour later. We strode back inside and I plopped down on the sofa, pretending to sleep. I could feel the others staring at me, but I ignored them. Soon, I really was asleep. I had no regrets. I did what I had to do, and when I woke up the next day, I was finally going to figure out what the heck was going on.

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There we are! It has finally been explained why she keeps crashing into things! Hmm, what did Amy do at the registration building? What did she figure out about the message the trench coat lady gave her? You'll have to wait for the next chapter. Review, please!


	10. On the Road Again

(A/N): Heey! Here's chapter 10, and Amy, Ash and co. are finally on the road again! Or, will be anyway, if Amy will ever stop scaring them. You'll have to read on to figure out what I mean. Thanks to Suzurin and kilala223 for reviewing.

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

**Chapter 10: On the Road Again**

"Why did you forfeit?"

"...............Hmm...?"

"Why did you forfeit?" I forced my eyes open to be staring up at a very annoyed Ash. I sat up.

"I didn't forfeit," I sighed.

"Yeah, you did. Your fifth round opponent moved straight to round six. And then she beat Richie." Huh? Who the heck was that? Oh, right. That friend of his that beat him in round five. I yawned.

"How long was I asleep if I missed the round six battles, too?" I muttered.

"Don't change the subject!" Ash whined. "Why did you forfeit?" What was he, a broken record? I grinned and decided to take him on a guilt trip.

"Well, one would think you would be happy about me pulling out of the league. You lost your match and all, so of course the league should have ended right there. Now, the league would have been hard to end, but at least I brought it one step closer, right?" Ash stared at me, his mouth slightly open. He lowered his eyes.

"Well, you didn't have to forfeit..." I faked frustration.

"Well, I wish you would have told me that sooner!" He hung his head.

"Sorry..." he said, so low it was barely audible. I scowled at him a moment longer, and then cracked up. He looked back up at me in shock. I finally managed to stop laughing and explain.

"Aw, man, you shoulda seen the look on your face!" I cleared my throat and continued. "First of all, I didn't forfeit, I just withdrew from the league. It was what I had to do. And second, it had nothing to do with you losing your match, I had my own reasons." I stood up and strode towards the door, when I realized I was missing something. "Alice!" I called, remembering the Pikachu. "Oi! Alice!" The door suddenly flew open, hitting me in the head. Misty entered the room.

"Oh, sorry Amy," she said, wincing.

"If it makes you feel better," I began, rubbing my forehead. "My vision just cleared up again." She looked at me with confusion for a moment, but it soon switched to concern, most likely when she recalled my argument with Ash earlier. Erm... how long ago was that? I still had no idea how much time had passed.

"Hey, are you going to stand there forever, Misty, or are we actually going in?" I peered out the door to see Brock standing there.

"Oops. Sorry, Brock," Misty called over her shoulder and stepped inside, quickly followed by Brock. He shut the door behind him, and greeted Ash and I. I returned the greeting and once again called for Alice.

"Alice! Where on earth are you?" Behind me, Ash seemed to notice his own Pikachu was missing and began to call for him as well. He seemed to be in a better mood than after he lost the battle. "You seem like you're feeling better," I commented. Ash paused mid-call, not quite understanding what I had said.

"He and Richie had a little talk after Richie lost his sixth round battle," Misty explained. Ash nodded and finished the call he had cut off earlier. The two Pikachu finally raced into the room, colliding with my legs and knocking me over. They both began squeaking wildly at me in apology. I shook my head with a laugh and scooped the two up.

"Where in the world were you?" I inquired. They both shrugged. I sighed and handed Pikachu to Ash and placed Alice on my own shoulder. "I guess I'll have to weasel it out of her on the road. Anyway, maybe I'll see you guys again sometime. Nice meeting you," I said, giving a half salute to the three, and then turned to leave again. I could feel their eyes on me.

"You're... leaving?" Brock questioned. "Where are you leaving to?"

"And why?" Misty added. I stopped in the doorway again and looked back at their confused faces. I didn't know exactly how to answer them. If I told them the truth, it could possibly put them in danger.

"Nowhere in particular," I finally answered after several seconds of hesitation.

"Aren't you going to stay for the closing ceremonies?" Ash asked. "They're not that far off."

"Ash, don't you think that if I would be able to stay long enough for the closing ceremonies, I would have stayed in the league?" He thought for a moment, and then decided he really wanted to annoy me.

"I guess you're just scared of losing." I kicked him in the shin. He jumped backward a little, but he was smiling. He knew we were both just joking around.

"I told you before, Ash. I'm leaving because it's what I have to do!" None of them were letting me go that easy, though.

"Well, what is it you have to do?" Misty pried. This caught me. I knew that they were probably going to ask, but how exactly was I going to explain this? I hadn't gotten that far in my planning ahead. I had gotten to trying to leave and probably being stopped, but no further. I shrugged.

"Doesn't really matter," I muttered. But the thing is, it did matter. To me, anyway. And to Cain, and my parents, and to this 'trench coat trio'. I tried to leave again, but the others followed me. I began to speed up my pace, but there was no escaping them. I broke into a run, and all three continued to chase after me. I was getting annoyed now, and stopped dead in my tracks. We hadn't run off the plateau yet. Exasperated, I turned to them.

"Do any of you have a powerful flying-type that you could ride on?" Misty and Brock shook their heads, while Ash grinned and removed a Pokéball from his belt. Before he could release the Pokémon inside, however, Misty and Brock quickly grabbed a hold of his arms.

"Not Charizard!" Misty yelled. "Not Charizard." She calmed down a little and turned back to me. "None of us have a Pokémon like that."

"Good." I clicked a Great Ball off my belt and flicked it open. "Let's go, Terra." The minute I said her name, Ash paled and attempted to back away, but only ended up falling over. The Aerodactyl took shape in front of us, and I ran my hand across her head happily. Ash scrambled back a few feet. I blinked at him. "What's your problem?" He gave me a nervous smile.

"Ah, I had... an interesting experience with an Aerodactyl once," he explained. Perfect. Maybe now I could convince them to let me leave. But it was to no avail, however, because Ash's curiosity was more powerful than his fear. He didn't come any closer to her, but he was looking Terra over closely. "How did you catch her?" I grinned. I loved telling this story, just because no one usually believed me.

"Well, you see," I began. "Ever heard of a place called Grandpa Canyon?" I heard a quiet gasp behind me, and what little color had returned to Ash's face drained away again. I turned to my side so I could tell the story to Misty and Brock, too. Misty was still covering her mouth after her gasp, and Brock was shifting back and forth on his feet. I didn't understand why they were reacting like this, but I didn't really care. I continued my story.

"Several months ago, there was this huge fossil rush there, but it was quickly closed down after an unexpected cave-in. Nobody knows what really caused the collapse." I paused for a moment to breathe. I heard Ash mutter, 'Liars' under his breath, but I didn't take very much notice to it. "But I heard rumors. Rumors that extinct Pokémon had awoken and blasted the ground open in fury from the digging. Of course, being a trainer, I had to go see what really happened.

"I arrived there, and the place was completely deserted. Not a single soul in sight. Empty. But there was a hole. A hole filled with rocks. Curious, I went over to investigate. With the help of a couple of Pokémon, I managed to clear the rocks." I noticed that the farther I got into the tale, the more skittish Ash became. "Not a minute had passed after I cleared the hole when a huge winged Pokémon came soaring out of it, with several other Pokémon clinging to it. All of them were supposed to be extinct species of Pokémon. Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops, and Aerodactyl.

"I quickly captured an Omanyte and Kabuto, they've evolved by now, of course, and the rest slipped off back into the hole. Now the only Pokémon remaining was the Aerodactyl. She... was a tough one to capture. She was already ticked off by whoever had been there before me, and having someone trying to capture her was just making her even more upset." I stopped, and began to laugh. I couldn't help it. Looking back on this event now, I just had to laugh. "I'm not going to go into too much detail, because it would probably bore the heck out of you guys, but I eventually whipped out a Great Ball and snagged her."

By this point, Ash had grown even more pale (if that was even possible) and had scooted away even farther so he had a good several yards between him and Terra. Misty still had her hand over her mouth, and was noticeably horrified. Brock had... left to hit on another girl. I pointed this out to Misty and she pulled him back with the group, apologizing to the woman. Brock shrugged when she pulled him back.

"She's too young for me, anyway. I just needed an excuse to get away from the story. It was getting creepy." At least he was honest, but I couldn't take it anymore.

"What the heck are all of you so bothered about?" No reply. I turned to Pikachu. "What's up with them?" He turned to Ash. I rolled my eyes. Ash glanced up at me and finally decided to answer.

"I'm not going to go into much detail either, but that's the same Aerodactyl that tried to eat me." Oh. That would explain all the horrified looks the three were giving me. Wow, this guy had been through a lot. I glanced over at Terra, and for the first time since I released her, I noticed that she was staring at Ash rather hungrily. I placed my hands on my hips and looked up at her.

"No way. As annoying as he can be, he's not your lunch." Terra sulked for a moment, but must have decided he was too small to be worthwhile anyway and turned her attention skyward. I turned back to Ash. "You don't need to worry. She doesn't bite. Well, actually, she does, but not when I'm around." He nodded and stood up, finally regaining his composure. Brock and Misty had begun to relax, too. I wondered briefly if I had maybe dragged them far enough off topic to get away, but that hope was short-lived.

"So, where are we going?" Ash asked, remembering the reason the trio had followed me out there. I had a feeling I wouldn't be getting away from them anytime soon. I sighed.

"I'll let you guys come with me, on one condition," I said, holding up my index finger to emphasize my point. Three human heads, a Pikachu head, and a Togepi head all cocked at me, silently asking what that condition was. Slightly embarrassed, I looked between them all and asked, "How's your cooking?"

So it was settled. The four of us were now officially traveling together. I still wasn't ready to let them in on why we were doing this. They would hopefully figure it out when we got there. I explained this when Misty once again asked why. We left the plateau on foot, after deciding against flying (Ash still wouldn't go anywhere near Terra and none of them had ever ridden a flying-type before). We were only about ten to twenty minutes away from the plateau when Ash asked that same question again.

"Where are we going?" I laughed. I could at least tell them that much, right?

"Hold on to your hat, kiddo. We're going to Lavender Town."

* * *

Ahh... ten chapters up... my first milestone! *bliss* I hope I didn't make the reason why Amy's letting Ash and co. travel with her too obscure. Ah, well. Anyway, reviews are always welcome!


	11. The Riddle in the Tower

(A/N): Hey, everyone! Chapter 11 is here, and it's the longest one yet. I'm trying to make the chapters a little bit longer now. They felt kinda short. I dunno, that might just be me. Anyhoo, thanks to Suzurin and anonymous (Person) for reviewing! Don't worry, Amy's appearance will eventually be described.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Riddle in the Tower**

Nobody was too thrilled to be going to Lavender Town. After all, it didn't hold the best memories for the three. They didn't want another accident like the last time they were there. But, that was where we had to go. That was where the trench coat woman told me to go. Indirectly, but she did. We all walked in silence for probably around an hour, when Ash couldn't take it anymore.

"Will somebody, please, **say** something!" he whined. I turned around to see that he had stopped, and was just standing there, with an annoyed look on his face. "Maybe a certain **someone** could explain **why** we were going to Lavender Town anyway!" I waved dismissively.

"Calm down, kiddo," I yawned. He huffed.

"Explain a couple of things and I will!" I sighed. This guy was really persistent. He just wouldn't give up!

"Alright, alright. Okay, we're going to Lavender Town because a woman in a trench coat told me too, alright? Happy now?"

"No." Sigh. I guess I would have to be a little more in-depth than that.

"Okay, she didn't tell me directly; she gave me a riddle. She said that she needed me to 'go back to Shadow.'" I absently clicked a Pokéball off my belt and began to toss it back and forth between my hands. "Shadow is the name of my Gengar. It was also the nickname my mother was given. You see, she had a bit of an affinity for ghost-type Pokémon, so Shadow fit. All the different things that the riddle could be a reference to point to ghost Pokémon. The Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town is where ghost Pokémon reside. It's the only place I can think of that makes any sense at all." The three looked between each other and nodded in agreement. The explanation was satisfying, for the time being, at least. Relief washed over me. I was very glad that I wouldn't have to explain what was there yet. I fingered the string around my neck. How had Cain found out?

To keep the silence from returning, the four of us began a slow conversation. It was a bit awkward at first, just because of the earlier silence, but we eventually eased our way into it. We argued and debated, and we made random jokes, we told stories and just talked. It was weird for me. This was the first time that instead of explaining myself, or interrogating others, I was actually involved in a conversation. Not just with them, either, I mean in my whole life. I had never been the most social of people, and holding regular conversations was difficult. But with Ash, Misty, and Brock, there was no trouble at all.

I tilted my head back, drinking in the rays of the sun. I squinted and looked at my watch. It was about noon. Knowing Ash, it would be any second now...

"I'm hungry." Yup. Figured that much. So, we all sat down while Brock made some stew.

"I guess you guys are pretty lucky that Brock know how to cook, huh?" I asked Misty. She nodded with an embarrassed grin. Brock set bowls of the stew in front of us, got a bowl for himself, and set a dish of Pokémon food for Togepi and the two Pikachu. I scratched the back of my neck and laughed. "I'm pretty lucky, too. Ya' see, I can't cook to save my life. Almost burned the house down after mom left. I ended up having to get help from-" I cut off. Misty blinked at me.

"Had to get help form who?" I poked my spoon at the stew.

"Help from Cain," I muttered.

"Oh." And that was it. The silence had returned. We finished up and got on the road again. I couldn't help but feel like I was pushing them, but I wanted to get to the Tower as soon as possible.

As soon as possible was a while. I had forgotten how big the region was if you didn't fly. I had originally figured that it would take a few weeks to get there, tops, but I didn't think I would be walking. Now, my estimate of a few weeks had to be lengthened to a few months. One day in the middle of the second month started like any other.

The four of us woke up and I shifted between my feet anxiously while the others ate something. I never ate breakfast. Before I left Seafoam Island, breakfast was just another excuse to call the fire department. The others finally finished and we hit the road. And just as usual, we began to discuss random things. But things didn't continue on so regularly. I was in the middle of quizzing Ash on type advantages when a loud crashing sound cut me off.

"What the-" I spun around to the source of the noise, to see a large, Nidoking shaped robot staring down at me.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!" Wait... I heard this somewhere before...

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" I remember! They were the ones that interrupted my battle before!

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" At this point, a platform had risen up from the head of the robot, to reveal the two Team Rocket members and the Meowth. I glanced behind me to see the other's reactions. Ash was mimicking the talking with his hand and Misty was stifling a laugh as she watched him. Brock mouthed the words _We're used to it by now,_ at me. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the Rockets.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, dat's right!" After finishing their motto, the three surveyed us. James tapped Jessie on the shoulder and pointed between Pikachu and Alice.

"Look, Jess, we can get two Pikachu for the price of one! A twerpy Pikachu, and a twerpetty Pikachu." Jessie hit him over the head with a fan.

"I can see that, James!" They continued to argue, and getting bored, I turned back to the others.

"They're really weird but it's a kinda cute couple." A fan hit me in the back of my head. I wheeled around and snapped Terra's ball off my belt. "Alright, that's it!" Ash stepped up beside me. He looked worried. Oh. Right. Terra. Oops. I snapped it back on. "Well then, I'll use-"

"Don't bother. They're pushovers," Ash said with a shrug. I blinked at him.

"They have a giant robot, genius."

"Yeah, I know. They always do."

"How long have they been following you?"

"Long enough. Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" His Pikachu leaped up in the air and cried out, releasing a powerful electric attack on the robot. However, the electric attack bounced right off and came flying back toward us. We scattered, and the bolt just missed my feet. Annoyed, I shouted over to Ash.

"You know, I don't know these guys as well as you do, but if they've been following you 'Long enough,' and if you have this Pikachu of yours, don't you think that they would have learned by now to make their robots electricity-proof?" He thought for a moment, and then shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess so." I slapped my palm on my forehead and sighed. Ash was an idiot. I stood back up and snapped a Pokéball off my belt. I had no idea what Pokémon was in it, but I could make it work. I pitched it toward the robot and it opened and returned to my hand. All eyes were trained on the Pokémon that was taking shape. The light finally faded to reveal a Tentacruel. That'll work. Jessie, James, and Meowth were extremely excited about the release of my Pokémon.

"Look, Jess, the boss would love it if we brought him some of her Pokémon! You've seen how powerful they are!" Jessie nodded, but her face had wrinkled up in disgust at the sight of the Tentacruel. Misty, on the other hand, was suddenly by the Tentacruel's side, eyes wide.

"It's... beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Its tentacles move so gracefully, and it's just so squishy and cute! Look at how that red gem sparkles!" I raised an eyebrow and turned to the guys. Brock shrugged and Ash rolled his eyes.

"She has a thing for Tentacruel," they said simultaneously. Misty was still rambling on.

"I just could never hurt one of these precious things!" I nudged Ash.

"I guess I know what Pokémon to use in a battle against her," I whispered. He laughed. Misty glowered at us.

"I could battle one though, so that strategy won't work." I snapped my fingers in mock frustration.

"Dang it!" I finally turned my attention back to Team Rocket and cleared my throat. "Anyway, Ruby, use acid!" Ruby tilted back a little and spat the purple ooze onto the Nidoking robot. The acid burned a hole in the base of the machine.

"You named her Ruby?" Misty asked. "Such a pretty name for such a pretty Pokémon!"

"Thanks," I replied. I was glad that someone was actually complimenting the name I gave my Pokémon instead of insulting it. I pointed up to the gem on her head. "I call it the ruby of the sea." Misty bounced up and down a little.

"That's what I call it too! Aren't Tentacruel just amazing?"

"Yeah, it's pretty convenient that they're dual-type Pokémon."

"Are we gonna sit here talking about it all day?" Ash complained. He had a point. We had Team Rocket members to remove from the picture. I turned back to the robot...

...Or at least where the robot was supposed to be. I blinked at the place where the robot had been just a minute before. Maybe Team Rocket had gotten bored and left. But if they had really wanted my Pokémon, then...

"What, wondering where they went off to?" a voice called from behind a tree. I shivered. I knew that voice. "I just told them to let someone a bit more experienced handle you." Cain stepped forward. I ground my teeth.

"And yet, you still lost to me at the Pokémon League," I shot at him. He wasn't very experienced. There's no way he could be. I had been training for longer, and had two very experienced trainers for parents. "What, are you gonna send your Charizard after me again? Ohh, I'm so scared! There's no way my **water**-type could ever beat it!" I taunted, motioning toward Ruby. Now it was his turn to grind his teeth.

"It was the only other flying-type I had with me at the time," he muttered. I placed a finger on my lip and pretended to be thinking about something.

"Oh, that's right, because my Gyarados kicked your Gyarados's butt!" He scowled. But he turned that frown upside-down within seconds. "Why are you smiling?" No response. "Why are you smiling?" I asked again. Upon closer inspection, though, his eyes weren't trained on me, but somewhere behind me...

"Piiiiiii-kaaaaaa!" I wheeled around to see that the Nidoking robot had returned and snatched up the two Pikachu while we were distracted by Cain.

"Oh, no you don't!" I yelled. "Ruby, aim a hydro pump right in that hole!" Before she could act, however, Cain made a swift gesture with his arm, and the two Pikachu were lowered to be positioned in front of the hole. I yelped. "Stop the attack, Ruby! Hold your fire!" Ruby twisted around and blew the hydro pump toward Cain instead. He drew back in shock, but couldn't react in time to avoid it. He was thrown back and smashed against a tree. He slumped to the ground with a moan. His eyes fluttered for a moment before falling unconscious. Oops. The robot hustled over to him, with the three members of Team Rocket inside more than a bit confused. Misty, Brock, Ash and I stepped closer as well.

"I didn't... kill him, did I?" I leaned a little closer, then decided against it and pulled away. "Probably not." I cracked my neck and turned back to the robot. One down, three bozos to go. With their brain unconscious, they should be no problem to defeat. "Well, let's try this again, Ruby. Hydro pump!" The Pikachu had been moved out of the way of the hole, leaving Ruby with a clear shot. The hydro pump blasted inside the robot, filling the entire thing with water. The Team Rocket members inside began to scream and make gargling noises. Losing control of the robot, the Pikachu were released.

"Pika-pi!" Pikachu raced back to Ash and leaped up to him.

"Pikachu, I'm glad you're okay," he said. I watched. Those two were really close. Alice hopped up onto my shoulder and nudged my head. I stroked her.

"I'm glad you're okay, too." I turned to face the robot once more. "We've got a job to finish." I looked to Ash and nodded. We both pointed to the robot.

"Thunderbolt!" we cried. Pikachu and Alice raced forward and fired a powerful thunderbolt right into the hole. Water conducts electricity, so the attack was channeled all the way through. Jessie, James, and Meowth screamed for a little before the robot exploded.

"It looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again..." the three shouted, their voices growing fainter as they flew farther away. I raised an eyebrow.

"I hope I didn't kill them, either..." Brock shook his head and laughed.

"Don't worry, Amy, we've been doing that for a year now and they always come back anyway," he said. Ah, that explained why they said they were 'blasting off _again_.' Misty had gone back to Ruby and was hugging her. I blinked at them, and recalled Ruby before Misty could completely smother her. And the four of us finally got moving again.

"Sorry about them, we're used to them by now. They've never gotten away with our Pokémon before for more than a couple hours, max," Ash explained. I laughed. But I could tell that it wasn't the Pokémon that Cain wanted. He wanted information. I clutched the string around my neck again. Misty caught this.

"What's on that string?" she asked. I jumped.

"N-nothing!" I stammered. She crossed her arms and smiled at me, trying to silently convince me to tell her. "R-really! It's n-nothing!" I paused. "Did you put Togepi down or something?" I asked, wondering where the little egg-like Pokémon had gone. She instantly panicked, but soon found Togepi wandering around behind a couple of rocks. Lucky for me, she was too worried about Togepi now to remember what she had asked.

I kept moving us at a brisk pace, and not too much more time passed before we reached Lavender Town. Just like the last time I was here, a thick fog surrounded the entire area. The four of us stood on a ledge overlooking the town to catch our breath for a moment before following the small path down the side of the ledge. I felt myself speeding up the closer we got to the town, and by the time we reached the edge, I was running.

I took off and tore straight through the town toward the Tower at the end of the main road. I didn't even slow down when I reached the doors. I didn't even know if the others were still behind me. I entered the Tower and saw... nothing. No one was there. At all. I stomped in frustration.

"Where did she go?" I heard Ash ask the others from outside.

"She's probably already in the Tower," Misty replied. The doors creaked behind me and the three entered. None of them looked very excited. But then, the last time they were here, Ash nearly got himself killed. Brock gulped.

"Well, Amy, you know what you have to do in here, so we'll just be outside," he said, grabbing Misty and Ash by their wrists and trying to pull them out. Both of them shook his hands off. Ash actually seemed the most relaxed of the three, which I thought was kinda weird, considering he was the one that had been killed before. But then, he did say he had played with the ghost Pokémon. He turned to the stairwell and called.

"Gastly! Gengar! You guys still hanging around here?" A pause. Then, the two ghost-type Pokémon came flying out of the shadows and tackled Ash. Misty and Brock screamed. I jumped. Ash laughed. "It's okay, guys." I blinked. I didn't get it. He had seemed pretty scared when I first interrogated him. Of course, it probably wasn't the tower he had been scared of; he was probably scared of me. "Gastly, Gengar, can you two do us a favor? We need to find... uh... what are we looking for?" He turned to me. I shrugged.

"To tell you the truth, I don't really know. An... item, I guess," I muttered. I didn't want to tell them what we were looking for. But I would have to if I wanted to find it. "Let me put it this way; has anybody put something in the tower recently, say, the past two years?" The Pokémon thought for a moment, and then both perked up and glided across the room. I saw on the floor, now, a dusty chandelier. We all flinched and turned our heads away. Gastly and Gengar finally came to a stop in front of a blank wall. I surveyed it.

"There's nothing there," Ash muttered, obviously disappointed. Dust was thick on the place where the wall met the floor. I blew on it, sending a huge cloud of dust up in the air. I heard the others coughing behind me. But my attention was focused on the spot in the center of the small wall. A handle had been revealed. I grasped the handle and pulled upward. A panel of the wall lifted with it. The others watched intently. Behind the panel was a small, wooden box with an oddly shaped indentation on the front. Loosely taped to the top of the box was a sheet of paper. I traced my finger along the indent, and then pulled the paper off the box, not wanting to remove the box itself in case it was a trap. Misty leaned over my shoulder.

"What does it say?" she inquired. I cleared my throat and recited,

_The first is the stone that stops time tomorrow,_

_Some are the titans; the elements; three,_

_The final key has brought much sorrow,_

_With all five in place, the treasure you'll see._

* * *

So, was that okay? Finally, one of the names of Amy's Pokémon has been explained! Yeah, I know the riddle part is kinda short, but hey. Hmm... so the first key is 'the stone that stops time tomorrow.' Wonder what that could be? Take a guess, see if you know what the keys are! Review, please!


	12. We'll Wait, Amy

(A/N): Yaay! I'm back again, and this time with a new chapter of Fifth Key! Sorry for the delay. Moving on, this chapter is the shortest, but possibly most important chapter so far. It's from Cain's POV. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Also, thank you Suzurin and anonymous (Person) for reviewing.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon. It would be awesome if I did, but I don't. I don't own the characters either, with the exception of Anna, Cain, Damian, and Amy. There might be other minor characters that I create as well. Oh! The plot is mine too. If there is semblance to someone else's plot, it was completely unintentional.

* * *

**Chapter 12: We'll Wait, Amy**

I punched my fist into the wall and drew it away sharply. It was concrete. Ouch. I looked around, disoriented, sore, and exhausted. I was in a back alley somewhere. I fought with my head, attempting to recall the events just before I blacked out. That's right. Amy. She found out. No, I told her. Right. I was a fool. I punched the wall again. If I had waited, I may have been able to weasel the item out of her instead of having to take it by force.

But standing here feeling stupid wouldn't help me any. I needed a plan. I needed a good plan. And I needed backup. Or at least some kind of material I could use against Amy. I racked my brains for anything I could put to good use. Her fourth round battle was tomorrow. I knew that much. I didn't know who it was against. An idea began to form now. A smirk crossed my face and I set off toward the registration building. Time for a little hacking.

I reached the building and hacked onto the main system. The lady who usually watched the computer was asleep, so I had no trouble from anyone. I quickly made a few adjustments to the battle schedule. _No problem_, I thought to myself. _No problem at all._

If there was one thing I knew about Amy, it was that she hated to lose. She told me while I was leading her to the back alley where I woke up that she had never lost a battle. I knew that it would be even harder for her if she lost to the guy who betrayed her.

I hadn't expected that I would have been the one to lose.

I had to get out of there, and fast. It was only a matter of time before the authorities would catch up to me, so I took off toward Viridian City, the place where the main Team Rocket Headquarters is situated.

Giovanni wasn't happy. No surprise there. He had expected me to come back with information on the item that that man had stolen from us. After we had stolen it from someone else, of course. Although, even that theft was a close call. How were we supposed to know that that woman could singlehandedly liberate the city? How were we supposed to know that there would be three traitors among us? Of course, all this started long before Amy or I was born.

Very few people in the organization actually knew the entire story. Very few people even knew about the item. I was one of the people assigned on the item. My job was to find out exactly where it was and how to get it. Because of this, I was one of the few people that knew the whole story.

It all started about two decades ago. Team Rocket learned about the creation of the item from a few spies we had working in a large organization known as Silph Co. Giovanni was much younger then, but was already in charge of Team Rocket. He wanted that item. With it, he could obtain the most powerful Pokémon in the world. At the time, of course, he didn't know that he would be able to create Mewtwo. But that's a different story.

Moving on, Giovanni decided the best way to get the item was to take over the company. Along with this action, he captured Saffron City, where the main Silph Co. building was situated. He kept control of the city for a long time. Nobody was allowed in or out, except for Team Rocket agents. That was when that wretched woman came. She was only around my age at the time, but she was clever. She flew over the gatehouse that limited people's entry. Giovanni hadn't thought of that way to get in.

Of course, he also had no idea back then just who Anna Wright was.

When Anna freed the city, the head of Silph Co. gave her the item as a reward. He also figured that it would be the best way to keep the item safe. But it was hardly safe in her hands. Team Rocket was keeping close watch on her. Agents followed her and waited until she found Mew, and while in the midst of a battle with it, Team Rocket swiped the item from her. Dejected by this loss, Anna stopped training and moved to Seafoam Island with Damian Greenfield.

Two years after this, three traitors were found among us. Two of them were Christopher Wright and Jennifer Greenfield. The third was that man.

Wright and Greenfield worked together to create a distraction, and then that man made off with the item. Wright and Greenfield were caught and killed on the spot, but that man got away. Team Rocket's fastest agents chased after him. When they finally captured him at the ferry station to Seafoam Island, however, he was empty-handed. Rather than kill him, the agents brought him back to Headquarters.

Four years passed. The whereabouts of the item were discovered. That man had given it to his best friend, Damian Greenfield, at the ferry station, who in turn gave it to his wife, the very same person who had lost it to Team Rocket six years before. She had placed it in a safe. It was an unusual safe, however. Instead of a simple, three-number combination, it required five different items to act as keys of sorts. Only the final key needed to open it was a regular key. Anna tied this final key to a string.

She gave the key to her daughter, who to this day still wears it around her neck.

Team Rocket captured Damian Greenfield and offered him in exchange for the item. Damian was clever, however, and escaped from our headquarters with that man. Knowing it was too risky for him to return to Seafoam, Damian and that man traveled to many obscure cities within the Kanto region.

As the final precaution, Anna left her now nine-year-old daughter. She took the safe and scattered the keys. Now, the location of the safe was unknown, and the location of all but the fifth key were unknown. This brings us now to where I stood in Giovanni's office.

I was scolded for not doing my job correctly, but at least I was given another chance, considering it was really the first time I had screwed up. I left the office, feeling a little better about my mistake. I knew though, that getting information on the whereabouts of the item would be much more difficult now that Amy knew who I was. It was right as I was about to leave when I saw Jessie, James, and Meowth huddled in a corner, muttering things amongst themselves. This gave me an idea.

"Hey," I called, walking up to them. "You three have a knack for finding that one kid, right?"

"The twerp?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah, the one you call the twerp. Listen, he's hanging out with Amy now, right?"

"The twerpette?" James asked.

"Yeah, her. Look, I know you guys are having trouble capturing Ash- the twerp's Pokémon, and I need help finding Am- the twerpette."

"Whaddaya gettin at?" Meowth asked. I smirked.

"You help me find the girl, and I'll help you catch some rare Pokémon, okay?" The trio thought for a moment.

"Works for us," they said simultaneously. The four of us left headquarters, and stepped outside just as, conveniently enough, Amy and the others were passing through Viridian City. Listening to their conversation told us that they were going to Lavender Town. That worked. We could go ahead and intercept them.

Well, we tried to intercept them, anyway. I just got knocked unconscious, and the others were 'blasted off again'. It was a pain in the butt to find them again after that incident, and then we had to figure out how to get back on the right track. We had an easy opportunity, though, so we flew ahead of them to Lavender Town.

We settled on the second floor of the Pokémon Tower. We were conveniently located above a hole that opened above the main floor, allowing us to hear everything that Amy and the others were saying once they arrived.

"They're right below us! Let's get them now," James said, starting toward the hole we were listening through. I held him back.

"Shush! We need to listen." We all leaned closer around the hole and listened carefully as Amy recited the riddle written on the sheet of paper she had removed from the wall.

"I get it," Jessie whispered to the others. "We're going to wait until they leave and then take the box." I shook my head.

"No, there's no way we can collect the keys," I explained. "Besides, why not let Amy do the work for us? She can open the box," I said, holding my hands out in a request for the others to finish my sentence.

"And we can get the treasure!" the others finished. I smiled and gave them a thumbs-up.

"We might want to keep an eye on them, though," I muttered. I pulled out my walkie-talkie and pushed the 'talk' button down. "One-sixty-three to Team Rocket Headquarters. I've found it. The Master Ball will be returned to Team Rocket as soon as possible. Over." I slid it away and smiled again. "We'll be waiting for you, so hurry up," I murmured to myself. "We'll wait, Amy."

* * *

So, how was it? -Shock!- The item is the Master Ball! -Double Shock!- Two of Amy's grandparents were in Team Rocket! Any guesses on who that man is that Cain keeps talking about? Does the whole thing with Silph Co. seem oddly familiar? Hope you'll keep reading. Review please!


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